A tortoise in South Africa was minding his own business one afternoon, slowly strolling down a dirt road …
… when suddenly, a herd of elephants appeared, headed straight for him.
There was no way the tortoise would be able to outrun an entire pack of elephants (or most other animals, for that matter), and so he retreated into his shell to wait …
… and hope that an elephant didn’t accidentally crush him with his giant feet.
Miraculously, most of the elephants seemed to be aware of the tortoise way down below them, and cautiously stepped over him …
… and one baby elephant even nudged him with her trunk, perhaps trying to get him to play with her.
“Interestingly enough, the elephants seemed to be aware of the tortoise’s presence and were very careful to step over the tortoise or only bump him gently with their giant feet,” Kruger Sightings wrote in a video about the encounter.
The herd stopped for a drink of water right where the tortoise was taking shelter, and there was a lot of chaos and excited feet stomping all around the sacred tortoise …
… but somehow, every single elephant managed to avoid stepping on him, even the ones who didn’t notice he was there, and before long, the herd was finally ready to move on — much to the relief of the tortoise.
“For a minute or so, the herd was standing over the tortoise, having a good time in the water,” Kruger Sightings wrote. “But luckily, the elephants soon moved a bit upstream and the tortoise immediately saw an escape path, letting him flee for his life back to the safety of the surrounding bush.”
While the entire stampede didn’t last long, it was a bit of a close call for the tortoise — who may be avoiding any major roads from now on.
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