A view of the elephant exhibit, seen at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Escondido, California, September 23, 2021. (Photo: PBT/Depositphotos)
Earthquakes are frightening experiences for anyone, but for elephants, who “hear” with their feet, they can be particularly terrifying. A video from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido shows how their elephants came together when a 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook Southern California on Monday, April 14. The video, published by the San Diego Wildlife Alliance, shows the elephants coming together in an “alert circle” as the camera shakes.
Elephants are highly social animals, and they use these “alert circles” as a defense mechanism to protect the youngest members of the herd. In the video, the elephants are enjoying time in the sun when the shaking begins. The three adult female elephants—Ndlula, Umngani, and Khosi—appear to scan the area for threats, and then they come together in the center, forming a circle around 7-year-old calves named Zuli and Mkhaya. Shortly after the threat passed, zoo officials report that the elephants returned to their regular routines.
As elephants use their feet to feel vibrations on the ground, they are quite sensitive to things like earthquakes. This particular quake, which originated just an hour east of San Diego in the small town of Julian, would have activated their Pacinian corpuscles. These receptors are located on their foot pads and send signals through bone conduction to the part of the brain that is associated with touch.
Joshua Plotnik, an associate professor of psychology at CUNY Hunter College in New York who specializes in elephant behavior, tells NPR that it's not unusual for elephants to use their keen sensitivity to vibration to avoid danger. “I've heard anecdotes,” he says, “of elephants responding prior to the large tsunami waves reaching the shores of Thailand, for instance, of elephants retreating up to higher ground with other elephants.”
So while we humans are taught to drop and take cover, it's fascinating to see how other species employ a response that favors the herd at large.
See how these elephants from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park protect the herd with an “alert circle” during a recent earthquake.
Stronger together
Elephants have the unique ability to feel sounds through their feet and formed an “alert circle” during the 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook Southern California this morning. This behavior is a natural response to perceived threats to protect the herd. pic.twitter.com/LqavOKHt6k
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) April 14, 2025
Source: When an earthquake struck San Diego, these elephants formed an ‘alert circle'; Elephants Don’t Just Hear With Their Ears, They Get Their Toes Involved Too
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