Over-confident elephant calf was ꜰʟᴜɴɢ up into the air after ᴄʜᴀʟʟᴇɴɢɪɴɢ a mature bull buffalo to a ꜰɪɢʜᴛ

This is the moment a young elephant was sᴇɴᴛ ꜰʟʏɪɴɢ after unwisely attempting to ɪɴᴛɪᴍɪᴅᴀᴛᴇ a huge buffalo bull.The over-confident calf was among a herd of elephants refreshing themselves at the Spekboom lagoon in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa when the mature buffalo walked towards the water to join them.

While the adult elephants seemingly paid little attention to their new drinking partner, the calf was clearly put out by his presence – charging towards him in the bizarre hope that his tiny frame would somehow sᴄᴀʀᴇ the massive buffalo into leaving the area.

Needless to say, the bull wasn’t ɪɴᴛɪᴍɪᴅᴀᴛᴇᴅ in the slightest and casually waited until the young elephant was within sᴛʀɪᴋɪɴɢ range before sʜᴏᴠɪɴɢ him with his huge horned head. The ᴘᴏᴏʀ calf was ᴛʜʀᴏᴡɴ several feet into the air before ᴄʀᴀsʜɪɴɢ back down on to the South African savanna.

The calf is likely to have had second thoughts as he closed down on the buffalo, but by that point it was too late. As the unlikely ᴇɴᴇᴍɪᴇs came together, the young elephant’s body twisted in a ᴘᴀɪɴꜰᴜʟ-looking way before he ᴡᴏᴜɴᴅ up in an embarrassing pile on the grass. Although calf’s pride was undoubtedly ʜᴜʀᴛ, he ᴇsᴄᴀᴘᴇᴅ serious ɪɴᴊᴜʀʏ and hid behind his mother for rest of the day.

The whole sᴏʀʀʏ ɪɴᴄɪᴅᴇɴᴛ, which took place in March, was caught on camera by local wildlife guide Conrad Cramer. “What surprised me was that the other elephants were in no way disturbed by the chain of events, but rather seemed to see it as a life lesson that the youngster had to learn,” Mr Cramer said.

The bull buffalo continued to hang around in the area after the distinctly one-sided ꜰɪɢʜᴛ, completely unfazed by the presence of the young calf’s herd. For their part the elephants also showed little interest in the ᴅɪsᴘᴜᴛᴇ – almost as if they had shrugged off the calf’s unwise attempt at ɪɴᴛɪᴍɪᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴ as a valuable life lesson.