Be sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video!

Dogs can work as cops. Pigeons can work as mailmen. But could elephants work as lifeguards? This video suggests that the answer is yes.

It all began when a man decided to go swimming in a river. He decided to let the flow of the river carry him down.

As the water swept him, he passed by a family of elephants.

The youngest elephant saw the man and got distressed. But instead of watching on the sidelines, the elephant rushed straight into the water.

The man kept on flowing down the river.

Then he saw that the elephant was heading straight towards him, hoping to rescue him.

So the man started swimming toward the riverbank, so that the elephant wouldn’t get separated from his family.

Near the shore, the elephant reached the man. He wrapped his trunk around the man. He wouldn’t let go until the man was back on dry land.

The man thanked the elephant.

Then the elephant started guiding the man up to dry land, protecting him from the river with his legs.

This incredible footage then appeared on Facebook, where it soon went viral. To date, it has gained over 30 million views. It also has more than 1.1 million reactions, 176,000 shares and 21,000 comments. People have been saying things like this:

That certainly was a brave young elephant! His family must feel safe with him around.

The amazing thing is that this elephant is not unique. National Geographic has noted that, much like dogs, elephants have also used their senses of smell to alert humans to people trapped under rubble.

Of course, humans are not always so kind to elephants.

The relationship between humans and elephants has always been difficult. At first, people hunted them for their food and their tusks. But then others realized that they could be used in war. Obviously, hunting and wars led to a lot of suffering for the elephants.

And today, both African and Asian elephants are endangered.

By the end of 2018, there were 400,000 African elephants and 40,000 Asian elephants left. At one point, the African Elephant population alone numbered 26 million. Clearly, this is a drastic and tragic decline.

Luckily, it is not all bad news for elephants.

Some African countries are being proactive in their conservation efforts. Tanzania and Mozambique are two examples of nations that have managed to increase their elephant populations dramatically in recent years. Other countries, such as Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, have been able to stabilize or see a minor increase in their elephant populations.

And the World Wildlife Fund is working on measures that will hopefully help elephants thrive in future years.

For instance, they are trying to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans, strengthen anti-poaching programs, stop the black market ivory trade, reduce the demand for ivory and protect habitats.

Hopefully, conservation efforts for elephants will increase in future years. How can anyone want elephants to be extinct? They will literally race in the water to save humans!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Times of Oman, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, World Wildlife Fund