Elephants shield young from rockets

At Ramat Gan Safari, endangered animals react with cries to blaring sirens

While Israelis in the Tel Aviv area have been running for cover and crouching on the sides of highways when alarm sirens blared in recent days to warn of incoming rockets, the animals in Israel’s zoos had nowhere to go.

Still, some creatures’ protective instincts kicked in.

Those instincts were on display Wednesday at the Zoological Center Tel Aviv-Ramat Gan — commonly known as “the safari” — as four adult Asian elephants trumpeted upon hearing the warning siren before gathering protectively around two small calves.

Latangi and Lalana play at the Ramat Gan Safari in happier days (photo credit: Tibor Jager)

Zoo spokeswoman Sagit Horowitz posted a video of the elephants protecting their young.

“This morning, as the alert sounded in the area and in the Safari in Ramat Gan, the adult elephants trumpeted loudly and gathered around the young female elephants, Latangi and Lalana, in an attempt to protect them,” Horowitz wrote.

One of the calves, Latangi, was born just under a year ago, in August 2013. The second, Lalana, was born to Latangi’s grandmother, 28-year-old La-Petite, in October 2013.

Both births were celebrated all over the world, as Asian elephants are endangered.