Latest news with #Zuli
CBC
16-04-2025
- General
- CBC
When an earthquake hit, these elephants formed a protective circle around their youngest
Social Sharing Mkhaya, a seven-year-old elephant at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, can rest easy knowing her family has her back. When a 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck the area on Monday, Mkhaya's herd wasted no time forming a protective barrier around her, known as an "alert circle." The phenomenon, captured on video, has zoo staff beaming about the African elephant herd's sharp instincts, effective communication skills and strong family connection. "For them to be engaged in their environment and pick up on the signals that they're getting and respond appropriately, it's remarkable to see," Mindy Albright, curator of mammals at the Escondido, Calif., facility, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "And it's remarkable to see that those family bonds are so strong that they come together immediately to care for one another." WATCH | Elephants form 'alert circle' at San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Elephants form ring of protection around little one during earthquake 2 hours ago Duration 2:27 The herd members were in their enclosure foraging for food when the rumblings began. Immediately, they stopped what they were doing and started looking around. Then they gathered at the centre of the enclosure, and for a moment, stood completely still. "They've got their ears out. They're listening. They also have the ability to feel sound vibrations through their feet that travel several miles," Albright said. "So they're really just sort of in that moment, frozen, trying to gather as much information as they can so they can decide what's our next move? And that's a survival strategy that all elephants have." It's also entirely possible, she says, that they were talking to each other. "Elephants also have the ability to communicate in a frequency far below our ability to hear, so they could have been communicating that whole time. We just would not be able to hear it." Brother steps up to defend sister It didn't take them long to reach a consensus. The three adult females — Ndlula and Umngani and Khosi — quickly encircled Mkhaya and faced outward, ready to guard her. Mkhaya's half-brother Zuli, also only seven years old, joined the older females, facing outwards as part of the barrier. This prompted Khosi — a teenager who helped raise Zuli along with his biological mother, Ndlula — to repeatedly tap the young male with her trunk. Elephant herds are made up of adult females, usually a matriarch and her female relatives, and juveniles of both sexes. As the males reach adolescence, somewhere between the ages of 10 to 15, they leave their herd and go off in search of mates. Zuli is still very much a child, says Albright, but he's nearing that age where he'll separate from the group. "When they went to walk away [from the circle], he was still, like, touching his mom. So he's not fully confident as an adult bull. He's still a youngster," she said. "But these are just moments for him to start demonstrating his evolution of maturity within the family group." Alert circles are a perfectly natural elephant behaviour, often displayed in the wild, says Chase LaDue, a conservation scientist who works with elephants at the Oklahoma City Zoo. When there's any kind of perceived threat — an unknown noise, approaching humans, fighting animals — the herd's adult females instinctively enclose around the juveniles. "Elephants often have close bonds with one another, working together to find food and other resources and to defend each other against potential threats," LaDue said. The fact that it occurred in captivity, he says, is a good sign the facility has kept the herd's natural family unit intact. "These social functions are present even in places like zoos, where we strive to replicate natural social structures and provide opportunities for elephants to express natural behaviours," he said. The quake ultimately posed no danger to the elephants. It caused some minor damage in the mountain town of Julian near the epicentre, but nobody was harmed. Soon after it passed, the herd returned to their foraging. About an hour later when an aftershock hit, they briefly huddled again and then dispersed once they determined everyone was safe. Albright says they acted exactly as elephants should, which was heartening to see. "It's just a wonderful example of the strong family bond that elephant herds have," she said.
USA Today
16-04-2025
- General
- USA Today
California earthquake prompts elephants to take a defensive posture
California earthquake prompts elephants to take a defensive posture Southern California was hit with a 5.2-magnitude earthquake Monday morning, and elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park knew it was coming an instant before it struck. Video from the park shows the elephants reacting seconds before the shaking started, as noted by the shaking camera, and then formed an 'alert circle,' as the park described on its Instagram post. 'This behavior, demonstrated here by Ndlula, Zuli, Mkhaya, Umngani, and Khosi, is a natural response to perceived threats that helps protect younger elephants and the herd as a whole,' the park wrote. Once in a circle, 'they sort of freeze as they gather information about where the danger is,' Mindy Albright, curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, told the Associated Press. 'It's so great to see them doing the thing we all should be doing—that any parent does, which is protect their children.' Normalcy quickly returned, the park noted. 'After [Monday] morning's shake up, the [elephants] returned to business as usual and are safe along with the rest of the crew at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.' But about an hour later, the elephants huddled up again when an aftershock hit. Then it was back to normal for good. Photo courtesy of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
New York Times
15-04-2025
- Science
- New York Times
After an Earthquake, These Elephants Knew Exactly Who to Follow: Mom
The 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook Southern California on Monday may have provoked a collective shrug from humans in the region, but a few elephants in San Diego took the tremor very seriously. A video taken at the San Diego Zoo shows the action unfold: Five African elephants are basking in the morning sun until the camera begins to shake and a tremor sends the animals scrambling toward one another. A few moments later, almost in unison, the elephants form a tight circle, with the older elephants surrounding the younger calves. The herd remains in formation through the end of the video, facing outward with ears extended, as if on high alert for threats. The earthquake, which struck around 10 a.m. on Monday, had its epicenter near Julian, Calif., about 60 miles northeast of San Diego. There were no reports of injuries or damage, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. The response from the elephants was a defensive position known as 'bunching,' and is a typical reaction to threats, said Joyce Poole, a conservation biologist with a doctorate in elephant behavior from Cambridge University. 'They feel more secure when they are close together,' she said. When bunched, elephants often have their tusks pointed out, ears extended, eyes opened wide and trunks out, trying to smell potential threats. The formation, 'like the spokes of a wheel,' Dr. Poole said, gives the group a 360-degree view of their surroundings to pinpoint any danger. The younger members instinctively seek out the most protected position inside the circle, she said. In San Diego, the earthquake put on display some particulars of this group's dynamics, Mindy Albright, a curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, told The Associated Press. A female calf, known as Mkhaya, sought the safety of the inner circle of elephants, but a male calf, named Zuli, squared up with the matriarchs on the outside, striving to display his courage and independence, Ms. Albright said. Two of the older female elephants — Ndlula, Zuli's mother, and Khosi, a teenage elephant who helped raise him — can be seen patting him on his sides and face with their trunks as if to say 'things are OK,' and 'stay back in the circle,' Ms. Albright said. Researchers believe elephants are able to feel tremors through their feet, allowing them to sense tiny vibrations — caused by thunder, calls from other elephants or stampedes by other animals — even at long distances. 'They detect that animals are running, and therefore there is something potentially to be fearful of,' Dr. Poole said. Elephants are also highly intelligent, and they form complex social bonds that allow them to increase their chances of survival, learn skills and pass on knowledge. 'It's a pretty democratic society,' Dr. Poole said. 'Everyone has a say, and everyone can suggest a course of action. But when there's trouble, everyone will pay attention to the matriarch and do what her behavior recommends.' In the video, Dr. Poole said, the largest elephant can be seen running toward the camera, while all the other elephants take their cues from her. This type of behavior can also be observed in humans, she added. When facing danger, humans often run for safety, 'and safety usually means somebody older, or somebody you feel who can give you guidance or lead the way.' The animals repeated the behavior about an hour later during an aftershock, The A.P. reported, but went back to their daily routines when the situation seemed safe.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Elephants form 'alert circle' to protect their young as quake shakes San Diego Zoo Safari Park
As Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi felt the ground rattle beneath them, the mighty African elephants sprung into action — forming a tight circle around their youngsters in a moving display of protective instinct in the face of Monday's earthquake. The elephants, who live at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, were engaging in a defensive behavior known as an "alert circle," which is used in the wild to protect the youngest members of the herd from threats, said Mindy Albright, curator of mammals at the zoo. The Safari Park captured the herd's defensive formation on camera as a magnitude 5.2 earthquake rattled the region, sending shock waves through the elephant enclosure and across Southern California. As the earth began to shake around 10 a.m., the elder elephants in the enclosure rushed to encircle the youngsters, the video shows. "It was really neat to see them come together as a herd to protect the juvenile and then immediately try to survey their habitat," she said. "Elephants have an incredible sense of hearing — they can feel sound through their feet — so you can see them pause after they all formed the alert circle to see if they could get any more information from the environment." After roughly four minutes, the elephants determined the danger had passed and exited the circle, although they remained close together. Ndlula and Umngani are 35-years-old, Khosi is 18 and half-siblings Zuli and Mkhaya are both 7. Albright said it was particularly interesting that although Zuli and Mkhaya are the same age, Zuli tried to position himself on the outside of the alert circle. Read more: 'It shook everything.' Magnitude 5.2 earthquake hits San Diego County, felt across Southern California "Instead of being in the center of that protective circle, he was on the outside as one of the protectors and to see that evolution of his social responsibility within the herd is really interesting," she said. African elephants typically live to be 60 to 70 years old in the wild, thanks in part to the survival advantages they obtain through their protective family social structures. In the wild, herds might form alert circles to protect their young from predators, humans or other elephants fighting, Albright said. This defense tactic is also a testament to elephants' communication skills. Elephants can speak to each other using infrasonic rumbles — sounds that humans are incapable of hearing — that travel long distances and warn other nearby elephants of potential danger. Read more: 'That was awesome!' California's earthquake early warning system let many know about Monday's temblor Oftentimes it is the older elephants in the herd that determine whether the group should flee, investigate the danger or resume normal activities. The elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park similarly formed an alert circle in 2010 when the magnitude 7.2 Baja California earthquake rattled the region, Albright said. "Elephants are very unique" she said. "I think one of the things that makes them so likable is their connectedness to each other, which you can really see in moments like these." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
15-04-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Elephants form ‘alert circle' to protect their young as quake shakes San Diego Zoo Safari Park
As Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi felt the ground rattle beneath them, the mighty African elephants sprung into action — forming a tight circle around their youngsters in a moving display of protective instinct in the face of Monday's earthquake. The elephants, who live at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, were engaging in a defensive behavior known as an 'alert circle,' which is used in the wild to protect the youngest members of the herd from threats, said Mindy Albright, curator of mammals at the zoo. The Safari Park captured the herd's defensive formation on camera as a magnitude 5.2 earthquake rattled the region, sending shock waves through the elephant enclosure and across Southern California. As the earth began to shake around 10 a.m., the elder elephants in the enclosure rushed to encircle the youngsters, the video shows. 'It was really neat to see them come together as a herd to protect the juvenile and then immediately try to survey their habitat,' she said. 'Elephants have an incredible sense of hearing — they can feel sound through their feet — so you can see them pause after they all formed the alert circle to see if they could get any more information from the environment.' After roughly four minutes, the elephants determined the danger had passed and exited the circle, although they remained close together. Ndlula and Umngani are 35-years-old, Khosi is 18 and half-siblings Zuli and Mkhaya are both 7. Albright said it was particularly interesting that although Zuli and Mkhaya are the same age, Zuli tried to position himself on the outside of the alert circle. 'Instead of being in the center of that protective circle, he was on the outside as one of the protectors and to see that evolution of his social responsibility within the herd is really interesting,' she said. African elephants typically live to be 60 to 70 years old in the wild, thanks in part to the survival advantages they obtain through their protective family social structures. In the wild, herds might form alert circles to protect their young from predators, humans or other elephants fighting, Albright said. This defense tactic is also a testament to elephants' communication skills. Elephants can speak to each other using infrasonic rumbles — sounds that humans are incapable of hearing — that travel long distances and warn other nearby elephants of potential danger. Oftentimes it is the older elephants in the herd that determine whether the group should flee, investigate the danger or resume normal activities. The elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park similarly formed an alert circle in 2010 when the magnitude 7.2 Baja California earthquake rattled the region, Albright said. 'Elephants are very unique' she said. 'I think one of the things that makes them so likable is their connectedness to each other, which you can really see in moments like these.'
