These tourists were in the thick of things during an excursion into the African wild – unusual animals, intersting plant life and gorgeous scenery surrounded them at every turn! But when a herd of elephants walked in front of the group, they were left in total shock! This is something few people get to experience in a lifetime and the massive pachyderms were standing just feet away!
That’s when, without warning, the smallest elephant was standing right before them. What they caught on camera moments later is going totally viral and it’s easy to understand why!
At first, the tiny elephant looked at the people standing before him nervously – who were these stranger creatures walking on two legs? Then the elephant got a look in its eye that made it clear something strange was about to occur.
The humans watched excitedly as the calf geared up for something big. But it definitely wasn’t what they thought was going to happen!
Instead of running away or sounding off with his trunk, the elephant prepared for a big ol’ sneeze! The moment the sneeze came out, the elephant jumped straight up! The curious bystanders realized that the calf had scared himself and, before they could capture any more footage, it ran to his parents.
Josh Plotnik, a researcher of elephant behavior and intelligence at the University of Cambridge and the head of elephant research for the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Chiang Rai, Thailand, told Livescience that elephants can get spooked by just about anything – including their own sneezes.
During the interview Josh explained:
“In the wild, anything that suddenly runs or slithers by an elephant can spook it. It doesn’t have to be a mouse – dogs, cats, snakes or any animal that makes sudden movements by an elephant’s feet can startle it.”
It’s possible that the little elephant’s trunk caught the corner of his eye and that was enough to make it panic! Or maybe the sound that came from its trunk was something he had never heard before. It’s not clear what exactly scared the adorable little calf but hopefully he’ll learn from it and be tougher in the future.
Thankfully, this tourist family captured the funny moment and thought to share it online for the world to see! It’s not everyday that an adorable little elephant scares himself with a sneeze! For such large animals, it seems as though they should be more brave, but this is proof that’s definitely not the case.
Watch this hilarious moment for yourself by “pressing” play on the video below.
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