Heartwarming Video Shows "Incredible Reunion" Of Baby Elephant With Its Herd

An elephant calf was reunited with its family, thanks to a rescue team that scoured the Samburu National Reserve to track the herd. A heartwarming video of a moment has gone viral on social media platforms. The baby, part of a group known to researchers as "The Virtues", was found alone by a group of tourists. It was separated while trying to cross the swollen Ewaso Nyiro River near Larsens. 

Sharing details of the reunion, Save the Elephants, a research and conservation organisation, wrote on social media that "against all odds", a baby elephant reunited with his family. "Reuniting lost calves with their families in the wild is delicate and challenging work - and when it succeeds, it's magic," Save the Elephants," it added.

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Watch the video here:

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A post shared by Save the Elephants (@savetheelephants)

Save the Elephants, working with the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and rangers from Samburu National Reserve, responded quickly. They captured the calf, loaded him into a Land Cruiser, and drove roughly three hours to Buffalo Springs National Reserve, where the herd was last seen.

The biggest challenge wasn't finding the herd. It was getting them to accept a calf who now smelled like humans. Elephants rely heavily on scent to recognise family members, and human contact can cause a mother or herd to reject a youngster.

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To tackle this, they put a coat of fresh dung on the family to recognise their little one after more than three hours apart. "The Virtues were cautious at first, then welcomed him home. He was even seen nuzzling his mother and playing with the other calves," the post mentioned.

"Huge thanks to Samburu National Reserve management and everyone involved. This is the second wild reunion STE has engineered recently - a four-month-old calf was also reunited with his family after his mother died in February," they added.