The Heartwarming Mystery of the Elephant Who Couldn’t Stop Digging

A strange mystery in an exotic location

You might have already guessed that a story involving elephants is likely to take place somewhere exotic. And you’re right: in this case, the story we’re about to tell takes place in India. But it doesn’t take place anywhere famous like Ranchi, Jharkhand’s capital city, which is known as the City of Waterfalls. Instead, this tale takes place in the comparatively smaller Chhata district which is about 100 miles outside the Ranchi city limits

In this district, the elephants migrate each year. That makes the sight of these mighty beasts a regular occurrence. However, this story doesn’t begin with just any elephant on the move. Instead, it begins with an elephant that stopped moving and started digging, causing a mystery that practically the entire district came together to solve.

Spotting the digging elephant

As noted before, it was fairly common in the Chata district for elephants to move as part of their annual migration. However, local residents soon took note of a mother elephant who was acting erratically. She suddenly looked frightened and agitated and suddenly stopped, right on top of a mud lake.

Those who witnessed the beginning of the incident noticed an immediate mood shift, with the elephant going from acting contended to acting concerned. Suddenly, she began digging into the ground with relentless ferocity. Nobody could remember anything like this happening before, with the exception of the local elders.

Only the local elders could remember such a thing happening

When this elephant began digging, many local residents began asking the same thing we’d probably ask in their place: “have you ever seen an animal do anything like this?” For most, the answer was a resounding “no.” However, the oldest of the elders could dimly recall something like this happening over 60 years before.

Unfortunately, the elders couldn’t agree on exactly what happened back then. They argued among themselves, and everyone was back to square one: trying to figure out what this elephant was doing. Eventually, a brave soul got closer to this desperate elephant, effectively taking his life into his hands in the search for answers.

Nobody could draw close to the elephant

Chances are that you haven’t spent much time around elephants. Therefore, you might be asking the obvious question: why didn’t someone get close to the elephant to figure out why she was digging? As the hours went on, it was clear that the animal was in pain but refused to stop what she was doing. But everyone held off on trying to approach because they worried they’d be the ones in pain if the elephant took a sudden dislike to them.

Eventually, one man’s curiosity overcame his fear. He got closer and closer to the elephant, and it looked like he might actually get close enough to discover the answer. Soon, though, she snapped at him, making it clear that if he kept trying to draw near, he might be the next thing she dug into. Eventually, exhaustion caught up to the elephant…and that’s when two awe-inspiring miracles occurred, back-to-back.

Exhaustion, salvation, and discovery

After digging for over 11 hours, exhaustion finally caught up to the elephant. She collapsed, and locals were worried about exactly what happened to her. It could have been simple exhaustion, of course, but it could be a sun stroke instead. Either way, everyone now had two mysteries to solve: why the elephant collapsed and what the heck she was looking for.

The first mystery was answered when she got back up to begin digging. Clearly, it was simply exhaustion that made her collapse, and she was in danger of collapsing again if she didn’t stop to eat some food. Fortunately, the locals had brought a veritable feast, and the elephant voraciously devoured it. Many of the locals hoped the food would distract her from the digging, but the elephant went right back to it after chowing down.

Soon enough, the second mystery was answered after the elephant found what she was digging for. It was actually her own baby calf, but it soon became clear that mama couldn’t retrieve the elephant on her own. The villagers eventually hatched a plan to temporarily lure the mother away with more food while they stealthily widened the hole the calf had fallen into. This allowed the elephant to come back and retrieve her baby without worrying that the locals had done anything to endanger her calf.

Just like that, the digging ended and the reunion began. And the two elephants continued their migration, leaving everyone with a story they will never forget.