Mind-blowing video shows elephants' ingenious reaction when earthquake hit San Diego zoo

Animals have their own ways of reacting to and dealing with natural calamities. A herd of elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park demonstrated just that when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit the city in California. The herd reacted moments before the tremor began. Larger animals like elephants can also detect low-vibration earthquakes much better than humans, per Science On a Sphere. However, what the elephants did after sensing danger was truly incredible and made people on the internet marvel at sight, according to 10News–ABC San Diego KGTV.

The elephants gathered at the same spot moments before the shaking began. They looked for the source of the disturbance for a while and then formed an "alert circle" with the herd. The younger elephant was pushed to the middle, while the older ones made a circle facing outwards and keeping watch from all directions. The zoo staff was proud of the African elephant herd's strong sense of community, brilliant communication and incredible instincts, per CBC. "For them to be engaged in their environment and pick up on the signals that they're getting and respond appropriately, it's remarkable to see," Mindy Albright, the curator of elephants at the Escondido facility in California, told "As It Happens" (a current affairs show by CBC Radio) host Nil Köksal.

"And it's remarkable to see that those family bonds are so strong that they come together immediately to care for one another," Albright added. The animals were looking for food in their enclosure when they sensed something unusual. They dropped whatever they were doing and gathered at the center to protect each other. "They've got their ears out. They're listening. They also have the ability to feel sound vibrations through their feet that travel several miles," the curator said. She explained that the animals stood still in the circle and tried to gather as much information as possible to understand their next move. "And that's a survival strategy that all elephants have."

Also, there is a possibility that the mammals were communicating with each other when they formed the circle. Albright pointed out how elephants communicate far below humans' ability to hear, and it was entirely possible that the herd was talking and we couldn't hear them. Alert circles are a natural thing for elephants in the wild, according to Chase LaDue, a conservation scientist at the Oklahoma City Zoo. "Elephants often have close bonds with one another, working together to find food and other resources and to defend each other against potential threats," he remarked, per the publication. The herd at the zoo includes Ndlula, Umngani, Khosi, Zuli and Mkhaya. The animals returned to what they were doing around four minutes after the earthquake stopped.

People were awestruck by the incredible video. Cindy Matrai wrote, "It’s like they already have an emergency plan in place. Amazing." Elicia Hill-Evans commented, "The shaking was simulating a stampede, so the elephants did what they were supposed to do. Gotta love their instincts." Nabaruna Debbarman remarked, "It looks like they formed a protective circle around the youngest in the group! It’s fascinating that animals often embody the very values we strive for as humans—family, empathy, courage and community."