Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's office released a statement regarding two elephants who helped prevent the 18-wheeler that was transporting them from tipping over. The truck, which was en-route to Frisco, Texas for a circus, had pulled off the side of the road on Interstate 49 near Powhattan. The driver pulled onto some ground that was softer than he thought, and the truck became stuck in the mud.
The truck was beginning to tilt to one side, due to the soggy ground, so the driver got the elephants out of the truck. He then led the elephants around the vehicle, and they helped support it to keep it from tipping until help could arrive. According to ABC News the sheriff's office released a statement that said, "When deputies arrived on the scene, they were astounded to find two elephants keeping the 18-wheeler from overturning."
Elephants are incredibly intelligent animals, and despite their large size they are relatively fond of human interaction. They tend to react badly when mistreated by humans, and have at times, methodically destroyed entire villages when their herd was attacked. However, they also have an understanding for the need for teamwork.
ScienceMag published an article in 2011 detailing a study of how elephants interacted with each other, and the results of the study were surprising. It seems that elephants understand whether or not they can accomplish a task on their own, and if it's something they need help with then waiting patiently is not a bother to them.
We're all familiar with stories like Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" which depict animals working to protect their human counterparts. However, it is pretty awesome to hear of stories like this one, where animals truly save the day for their human.
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