A baby elephant nearly got kicked by her 11.5 ton brother in a frightening moment on last nights BBC’s Animal Babies: First Year on Earth.
Safina, who is only four days old, and has been born to mother Cyclone, in Kenya, starts to get her footing and explore her surroundings, but as she does she gets too close to her 11.5 ton brother.
The three part series follows three wildlife camera operators who film Safina, along with other animal babies, as they grow and develop, day by day.
The moment, which was part of last nights documentary shows Safina wandering off from her mother and playing too close to her brother – narrowly missing being kicked by him.
Baby elephant gets viciously kicked by her older brother
Safina, who is only four days old, and has been born to mother Cyclone, in Kenya, starts to get her footing and explore her surroundings, but as she does she gets too close to her 11.5 ton brother
Safina, who is only 4 days old and her mother Cyclone in Kenya – the documentary tracks her first year
The male elephants don’t have any part in rearing the young elephants and Safina is unaware of the danger her brother poses.
As her brother become irritated to her being too close he kicks his back leg in her direction – missing her by inches.
Her brother is around 20 times heavier than her – but luckily her mother and the other female elephants comes to her aid, forming a barrier around her and shielding Safina from her brother.
The moment shows just how fragile a baby elephant is in their first years of life and how males in the herd won’t protect them.
As her brother become irritated to her being too close he kicks his back leg in her direction – missing her by inches
The moment, which was part of last nights documentary, shows Safina wandering off from her mother and playing too close to her brother – narrowly missing being kicked by him.
Sue Gibson (pictured) is the camera woman tracking Safina’s moves and witnesses her trying to keep up with the herd just days after she’s born
Sue Gibson is the camera woman tracking her moves and witnesses her trying to keep up with the herd just days after she’s born.
Sue giggles as she films Safina fall over and get stuck in the mud, with her mother using her trunk to help her get up.
She also notes that the baby elephant still hasn’t got used to her trunk yet: ‘She is flicking it around and seems surprised about it every time she see it,’ she says.
The moment shows just how fragile a baby elephant is in their first years of life and how males in the herd won’t protect them
The three part series follows three wildlife camera operators who film Safina (pictured), along with other animal babies, as they grow and develop, day by day.
Safina and her brother in last nights episode – she get too close to him and risks being kicked by him
A few days later Sue revisits Safina and her herd and notices that there is a change with their behavior.
Quickly she realises that they have stumbled on another herd of elephants and one of them is Cyclone’s sister – Monsoon.
The emotional moment sees the elephants introducing Safina to her relative and the elephants using their trunks to bond with each other.
Her brother (right with Safina) realises what he has done and tries to say sorry by using his trunk to bond with his sister, but their mother (left) also quickly comes to rescue her
The male elephants don’t have any part in rearing the young elephants and Safina is unaware of the danger her brother poses
Luckily her mother and the other female elephants comes to her aid, forming a barrier around her and shielding Safina from her brother
Sue says: ‘They really look like they’re happy to see each other. Its like someone coming home from a long stint away and meeting them at the airport – you can’t wait to wrap your arms around them.’
The documentary also follows a baby sea otter and twin baby hyena’s – as they survive in their first three months.
Eight-week-old baby Mountain Gorilla, Nyakabara, is also filmed as she grows up in the Bwindi – an Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.
Safina falls over and get stuck in the mud, with her mothers using her trunk to help her get up
She was named Nyakabara as it means marked – after she she was born with a never seen before white bracelet of fur.
She is only one of only 50 mountain gorilla babies in the world, while at 8 weeks old she also shares 98 per cent of her DNA with human babies and like us is utterly dependent on her mother.
Camera operator Vianet Djenguet films her as her and her mother forage for food, after it is revealed that a third of babies don’t survive their first year as many fall from from the trees.
Nyakabara is only one of only 50 mountain gorilla babies in the world, while at 8 weeks old she also shares 98 per cent of her DNA with human babies and like us is utterly dependent on her mother
Eight-week-old baby Mountain Gorilla, Nyakabara, is also filmed as she grows up in the Bwindi – an Impenetrable National Park in Uganda
Camera operator Vianet Djenguet films her as her and her mother forage for food, after it is revealed that a third of babies don’t survive their first year as many fall from from the trees.