Elephants Form Protective Circle During Earthquake (2016)

When elephants feel an earthquake, they don’t scream—they huddle.

Watch a calf break from the group to prove he’s brave… until a teenage elephant aunt wraps her trunk around him like a seatbelt.

Watch Elephants Form an Alert Circle During Earthquake

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Release Date: April 14, 2025

Elephants are known for their strong family bonds and ability to communicate through touch and sound. But what happens when they face an earthquake?

This footage, taken at The San Diego Zoo on April 14, 2025, shows a herd of African elephants quickly forming a tight circle when the quake hits.

It’s not chaos—it’s coordination.

The babies immediately run to the middle, while the adult females form a wall of protection around them.

Elephants can feel seismic vibrations through their feet thanks to special receptors in their soles.
A teen female, Khosi, is seen patting a young male on the face and back with her trunk—almost like saying “It’s okay. Stay inside the circle.”
The little male, Zuli, tries to stay outside the protective circle to prove he’s brave—while the matriarchs keep nudging him back in.

When a second aftershock hits an hour later, the herd quickly forms the circle again. They do it without hesitation.
All the elephants involved—especially the older females—help raise the calves, whether they’re the birth mother or not.
The footage offers a rare look at how elephants combine emotion and action in moments of crisis.

The calf Zuli is still considered a “baby” but will eventually leave the group to join a bachelor herd, as male elephants do around age 10–15.
Khosi, the teenage elephant, has helped raise multiple calves despite not being a mother herself—proving how complex and communal elephant families are.
One of the scientists observing the footage described it as a textbook example of “protective formation,” a rarely filmed behavior during an actual earthquake.

Elephants don’t just survive earthquakes—they comfort each other through them. If only humans had this kind of instinctive empathy.

Thanks for reading!
– Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc