Pachyscoping

Yesterday I saw a fascinating report about a just-born baby elephant at a zoo here, I think, in Germany. (I didn't catch the first part of the report.)

The mother delivered the baby in the shallow part of a pool which the zoo had built especially for their elephants. The zookeepers immediately became alarmed, and then the one thing they feared most did indeed happen: The feeble newborn slipped further and further into the deeper part of the pool. The water was soon over the baby's head.

The zookeepers ran to the edge of the pool in hopes of saving the little pachyderm. However, there was little they could do, because every time they made an attempt to grab hold of the baby, the mother elephant, who was also in the water, made aggressive gestures toward them.

The zookeepers stayed as close as they could, hoping for some very improbable outside chance to save the baby.

Then something fully unexpected happened. As the zookeepers looked on, they spotted the tip of the baby's trunk rise up out of the water. The protruding trunk tip then proceeded to move from one part of the pool to another, in up-periscope style. The baby elephant was apparently breathing through his trunk as he also demonstrated to the zookeepers that, although he was only a few minutes old, he was an excellent swimmer.

After a few long moments, for the zookeepers at least, the trunk periscope found its way back to the mother elephant, who then helped the baby back into the shallower water and, finally, up to the safety of dry ground.