A herd of African elephants had each others’ backs at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Monday as a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook Southern California on Monday morning. (Check out the clip below.)
The elephants, in a clip posted to the park’s social media channels, formed what the park dubbed a “circle of trust” as they swiftly moved closer to one another and around youngsters in the herd.
“Elephants have the unique ability to feel sounds through their feet and formed what is known as an ‘alert circle,’” the San Diego Zoo Safari Park noted in the post’s caption.
The response by the herd — composed of Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi, as well as youngsters Zuli and Mkhaya — is tied to a “natural response to perceived threats that helps protect younger elephants and the herd as a whole,” the park noted.
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance told San Diego’s NBC affiliate that the clip demonstrates the “strong social family structure in elephant herds.”
The herd went back to “business as usual” after roughly four minutes and are now “safe” along with other crew members with the wildlife alliance, according to the park.
The park — which eight African elephants call home — was among a number of places shaken up by the quake with an epicenter just south of the community of Julian, which is roughly 60 miles northeast of San Diego.
Several lesser-magnitude aftershocks were also reported, per the U.S. Geological Survey.
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