Lost baby elephant shares a heartwarming moment with mom after being rescued from the wild

The bond between a mother and her child is so precious because it begins even before the child comes into the world. This beautiful bonding is common not just among humans but also among animals and birds. The internet is full of heartening videos showing baby animals adorably nuzzling up to their mothers and following them everywhere. Recently, one such video of an elephant calf and its mother, captured by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department in India, became viral on the X platform. The touching video showed what happened after the lost calf was reunited with its mother and the internet is in tears.

According to researchers from the University of Oxford, elephants generally live in a matriarchal herd and share a strong bond with their herd members. So, when a calf is born, not just the mother but other females, especially aunts protect the little one. But, in this story, the little calf was left unprotected and was seen wandering alone in the dense forests of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Pollachi. When the poor baby was searching for its mother, the field team caught on to the calf and took her under their wings until she was reunited with her mother. Acknowledging the diligent efforts of the foresters, Tamil Nadu's Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests, IAS officer Supriya Sahu, posted about the reunion on X. 

The forest officers were determined to find the little calf's mother and her herd. They made it possible by harnessing the power of technology and some dedicated forest watchers. Drones were sent out to locate the missing herd and within a day after separation, the elephant calf safely got back to her mother. Sahu wrote in her tweet, "The year ends on a heartwarming note for us at TN Forest Department, as our Foresters united a lost baby elephant with her mother and the herd after rescue in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve at Pollachi." She also added that field teams were still monitoring the area using drone cameras to ensure that the mother-daughter duo rejoined their herd safely.

Three days after this reunion, the Forest Department shared aerial footage of the elephant calf and her mother sharing a beautiful moment. The video shows the exhausted mother lying on the ground taking a break from moving along with the herd. The little baby nuzzled up to its mom and slowly fell asleep in her warm embrace. A picture of her adorable afternoon nap in her mother's embrace was shared by the IAS officer on X and immediately went viral with over 1.1 million views and 2.7K retweets. "When a picture is worth a million words," she wrote.

The photo, without a doubt, touched millions of hearts. "Credit to each and every TN forest department staff and volunteers who managed to reunite this calf with its mother. This picture is something that they will carry for generations. What a noble deed they have accomplished," commented @kalapian_. "All is well that ends well. After having been separated from each other, must have been a traumatic phase for both the momma and kiddo. But salutes to the TN Team for successfully carrying out a reunion operation. God bless them all," commented @SonaliD82403754. "The greatest deed that mankind can do is to respect and care for animals just as much as they do for their loved ones," commented @SripadJK.