In the Hindu Puranas, there is an oft-repeated story of an elephant getting its leg caught in a crocodile's jaws, and even as the elephant cried out Lord Vishnu's name, the god sent his Sudarashan Chakra to kill the crocodile in order to rescue the elephant.
No so, in Africa. A baby elephant went to a waterhole in South Africa's famous Kruger National Park.
As it dipped its trunk for a sip, a crocodile hiding under the leaves sprang up and caught hold of the baby elephant's trunk. The elephant howled and howled, and brought the entire herd of elephants to the waterhole, reports Daily Mail, London.
Hearing the baby's calls of distress, the herd of elephants immediately went to its rescue, scaring off the crocodile by trumpeting and stamping the ground. After the attack the herd stayed with the youngster.
When the baby had recovered the herd crossed the waterhole together in safety, only yards from where the crocodile had been hiding.
These pictures were taken by amateur photographer Johan Opperman in the Kruger National Park in South Africa.He said: ‘The crocodile was hoping for a nice lunch with elephant on the menu.
‘From a couple of experts, I've heard that this is very rare, and that crocodiles do not normally try to catch elephants.'
As Kipling writes in The Elephant's Child: ‘And the Elephant's Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant's Child's nose grew longer and longer – and it hurt him...'
