Elephants Make Circle To Protect Young During Earthquake

The elephants protect the 7 year olds in an "alert circle".

A group of elephants quickly ran together and made a circle to protect the youngest elephant after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in San Diego last month.

The youngest elephants are 7 years old. The elephants watched carefully for danger all around them for several minutes afterwards.

This is called an “alert circle” and is common in herds of elephants in times of danger. It shows us the amazing abilities animals have developed to protect themselves. The strongest protect the weakest… I hope I would also behave the same with my children!

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quickly: 素早く

protect: 保護する

magnitude earthquake: 地震の規模

youngest: 最年少

carefully: 慎重に

several: 数頭

afterwards: その後

common: 一般的な

herd (of elephants):（象の）群れ

ability (abilities): 能力（複数）

develop: 発達する

strongest: 最も強い

weakest: 最も弱い

behave: 振る舞う