Adorable Video Of Baby Elephant Tiring Out Dog During Playtime Earns Internet's Attention

Jun 04, 2021

This dog has no idea this baby elephant is bigger than him. He's enjoying playing and taunting the sweet little elephant. Dogs can be best friends with just about anyone or anything; that's the truth.

In this 2014 clip, this sweet pup is playing a game of tag with his new friend, a baby elephant at Chiang Mai’s Elephant Nature Park in Thailand.

The dog is a lot faster than the baby elephant. The elephant tries to chase him, but the puppy gets away a lot faster. He's not worried that the elephant will get near him. The older elephants keep a watchful eye on the playing pair. The dog seems almost too confident as he taunts the baby elephant. He seems to enjoy tricking it into chasing him.

Finally, the elephant seems to be getting tired of the dog's games. The cub is getting frustrated as it just cannot keep up with the dog. The baby begins huffing. Maybe it's headed for a meltdown like when two toddlers play and then get tired of one another. The elephant swings its trunk at the dog. It seems to be telling the pup that the game is over. The dog doesn't seem to care.

The baby elephant has reached its breaking point. It kicks a big pile of straw at the dog then throws some over its shoulder. The tantrum is in full effect. It isn't getting its way. The baby storms away to its mommy.

The elephant is stomping its feet, mad at the dog, having lost the game.

Maybe the baby elephant didn't really lose, but the dog seems to feel like a king, a hundred feet taller than he really is.

While it may seem strange for two different species of animal to become friends, it turns out that interspecies or cross-species friendships aren’t that uncommon in captivity.

“Animals can forge bonds across species boundaries if the need for social contact pre-empts their normal biological imperatives,” Laurie Wiegler writes in an article about cross-species relationships for Slate. “A cat raised with dogs doesn’t know it’s a cat, the logic goes.”

Similar to the relationship we see here between the elephant and the dog, Wiegler references the PBS documentary “Animal Odd Couples,” which features a dog who is companions with a cheetah. The two inseparable friends grew up together at Busch Gardens, a theme park in Tampa Bay, Florida. The male cheetah, who is called Kasi, was put with the dog, a female Labrador retriever mix named Mitani, when no other cheetahs were available at the park. And while the two are clear companions, they don’t always get along, just as the elephant in this video seems to be fed up with her canine friend. 

“Part of learning is going through situations where you learn things not to do,” says Tim Smith, curator of behavioral husbandry at Busch Gardens, in his interview with Wiegler. “If Mtani doesn’t want Kasi next to her, she will show him signs, such as with her teeth or with a low-toned growl.”

It’s for that reason — situations where two animals from different species don’t get along — that some experts are more reluctant to celebrate interspecies relationships.

Lauren Brent, a primatologist and evolutionary biologist, told Wiegler that while these animals might start as friends early on, their relationship might change once they become adults, “with negative consequences for the dog.”

Cross-species relationships can also lead to incredible sadness for animals left behind by their companions. Barbara King, an anthropologist, tells the story of an elephant who grieved after her friend, a dog named Bella, was killed by coyotes.

Other researchers have a more positive take, however. Marc Bekoff, a former professor and expert on animal emotions, explains that even predators and prey can form long-lasting and meaningful bonds.

“I think the choices animals make in cross-species relationships are the same as they’d make in same-species relationships,” Bekoff says. “Some dogs don’t like every other dog. Animals are very selective about the other individuals who they let into their lives.”

There are countless examples of these relationships online. In a video from the Smithsonian Channel, a baby wildebeest treats a female lion as if she were her mom. And in another video from Truly, an otter is best friends with both hyenas and lions. That’s one brave otter!

What makes these relationships so fascinating — and extra heartwarming — is that they seem to defy all the odds. Not only do these animals overcome the barrier of species, but they also overcome the barrier of predator-prey relationships, showing that love truly does conquer all.

And while the elephant and dog in the below video seem more like rivals than friends, it’s truly amazing that they can play together despite their differences — in size and in species.

Did you love this video as much as we did? What do you think about cross-species bonds? Let us know — and pass this article on to your friends and family members to brighten their days.