Heart-rending scene of calf elephant nudging dead mother goes viral

A heart-rending scene of a calf elephant nudging the mother elephant that died at Kallar on the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram has gone viral.

It was on Saturday morning that some plantation workers spotted the elephant lying dead in the forest areas close to a plantation near Vithura, about 40 kilometres from the city. When forest officials later reached the spot, they spotted the heart-rending scene of the calf trying to wake up the mother elephant and nudging it.

It took some time for the forest officials to shift the calf elephant, aged around nine-month, from the spot. It was later shifted to an elephant rehabilitation centre in the district.

The dead elephant, aged around 40, was subjected to postmortem examination to ascertain the cause of death. Preliminary reports suggested that pulmonary disease was the cause of death.