A heartwarming video recently emerged, proving an elephant’s memory is remarkable. In the footage, an Asian elephant named Me-Bai is reunited with her mother, Mae Yui, after three years of separation.
Me-Bai was sold into the Thai tourism industry at just three-and-a-half years old, providing rides for tourists.
During this time, she could not see her mother, who also worked in the same industry. Female elephants typically remain together in herds for life, with solid bonds rarely broken before the calf is five years old.
Eventually, Me-Bai was rescued and brought to the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in northern Thailand after a grueling 62-mile (100km) journey through the jungle.
Initially cautious of her human caretakers, she soon adjusted to her new surroundings, as reported by National Geographic.
The sanctuary staff discovered that Me-Bai’s mother, Mae Yui, was still working in the tourism trade nearby.
Mae Yui’s owners agreed to retire her and allow her to join her daughter at the sanctuary. Their emotional reunion was captured on camera, showing the elephants joyfully flapping their ears and affectionately caressing each other with their trunks.
While some animal behavior experts, like Frans de Waal of Emory University, suggest that the elephants may not necessarily remember each other, their strong bond is undeniable.
The Elephant Nature Park sanctuary is now collaborating with Mae Yui’s owners to rehabilitate both mother and daughter, aiming to return them to the wild.
