A fortunate turn of events spared the baby elephant’s trunk from being severed by a crocodile. The incident occurred as the calf played in the shallows of a drinking hole in the African forest. It was evocative of a scene from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. Fortunately, the calf’s mother stepped in to protect them.
They battled to protect the vulnerable baby elephant from the onslaught while trumpeting and snorting as the rest of the herd watched in awe. Amazingly, the juvenile elephant was able to outmuscle the crocodile, which caused it to recoil and flee into the murky water out of terror.
Francois Borman, a Zimbabwean amateur photographer, captured beautiful images in the Mana Pools region of the Zambezi Valley.
Francois, 48, said, “I spent a few hours looking for action in the wilderness, but this is the last thing I expected to see!”
I always look forward to going out with my camera, and this specific situation is extremely fascinating to see.”
“A neighboring crocodile detected a bunch of small elephants coming down to drink, and I saw them. It took its time evaluating the situation and concentrated on the calf that was playing in the shallows.
“The baby elephant dashed right in and joyfully splashed around in the shallow, muddy water, showing clear excitement for the drink.”
He said, “It doesn’t worry about the world’s troubles, and it surely doesn’t think about the dangers that might lurk in the dark depths.
The calf is still quite young and hasn’t mastered drinking from its trunk. It stretches its trunk into the water and kneels down to gulp water with its mouth before rising.
Chaos ensued as an alligator suddenly lunged at the newborn elephant’s trunk and grabbed hold of it.
The calf screamed angrily and battled the crocodile valiantly for its life.
Time seemed to stop as the calf used all of its might to quickly drag the crocodile out of the water.
Other elephants charged at the crocodile, compelling it to eventually let go of the calf.
“When I looked at my photos, I was ecstatic because I knew they contained something extraordinary.”
“Photographs like these are the ultimate reward,” the photographer said. “Wildlife photographers have patiently waited and hoped for such a specific sight for a long time.”
