by Moment Trapped Baby Elephant Is Rescued From In The Mud By A Digger
The moment a trapped baby elephant is given a helpful nudge with a JCB after getting stuck in the mud.
The poor creature was trying to have a mud bath to cool off in the summer heat in southern India. However, the infant got trapped in the sticky muck in the Bandipur tiger reserve in Karnataka. Fortunately, onlookers alerted forestry officials, which look after the area, to rescue the young elephant and a yellow JCB digger helped the elephant get to its feet.
The driver nudged the elephant a little with the digger to push it upright from its lying position so that the elephant was able to stand itself up in the muddy puddle, after becoming unstuck from the muck.
The pictures shows the unlucky elephant writhing around on its side in a large muddy puddle, trying to get up out of the mud but can’t, trying to get free. But it appears to be getting exhausted, so the digger was brought to the rescue before any predators can ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ the ᴠᴜʟɴᴇʀᴀʙʟᴇ animal.
Onlookers alerted forestry officials who look after the area, and the heartwarming video shows the elephant being helped to its feet. The driver nudged the elephant a little with the digger to push it upright from its lying position.
From there, the elephant was able to stand itself up in the muddy puddle, after becoming unstuck from the muck. The digger reversed to allow the elephant to stand by itself and make its way out of the mud. Forest officials kept it under watch for a few hours and left it after it seemed healthy after its ordeal on May 15.
Elephants may look like they are having a lot of fun rolling around in the mud, they probably are, but it also serves a critical purpose for them. As they have minimal hair and sweat glands, they find it difficult to cool off under the harsh sun. The mud not only cools them down and provides a protective layer on their body to shield them from insect bites and the sun. Their skin looks very tough, but it is very sensitive, and can get sunburnt!
Elephants prepare the mud for their baths in two ways. One is to kick their foot in the water to stir up the mud and mix it with the water; the other is to churn the mud with their tusks or trunk up from the bottom when bathing elephants will either roll around in the mud or spray themselves with it using their trunk.
