This is the moment a juvenile elephant was thrown to the ground after foolishly attempting to frighten a massive buffalo bull. The overconfident calf was amid a herd of elephants cooling off in the Spekboom lagoon in South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park when the older buffalo strolled towards the water to join them.
While the older elephants seemed unconcerned by their new drinking companion, the calf was plainly disturbed by his presence, racing at him in the weird notion that his tiny body would scare the enormous buffalo away.
Needless to say, the bull remained unfazed and waited until the baby elephant was within striking distance before pushing him with his massive horned head. The unlucky calf was launched many feet into the air before landing on the South African plains.
Conrad Cramer, a local wildlife guide, captured the entire unfortunate occurrence on tape in March of this year. Mr. Cramer stated that, while the calf’s pride was clearly bruised, he escaped bodily harm and spent the rest of the day cowering behind his mother.
‘What astonished me was that the other elephants seemed unconcerned by the chain of events, but rather saw it as a life lesson that the youngster had to learn,’ Mr Cramer added.
