A video of an elephant diving into a swimming pool has delighted the internet.
A TikTok video posted by yexianggu shows an Asian elephant in a tank of water at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in southern Thailand.
At first, only its body is visible, as it appears to keep its head above the water. But then, the elephant takes a dive and submerges itself entirely.
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A row of spectators can be seen watching in awe as the elephant continues to swim along the tank in and up and down motion before surfacing again.
“My god, elephants can swim,” a caption to the video read.
The video has been viewed more than 410,000 times on the social media platform, and gained over 38,000 likes.
Over 500 people took to the comments section, to express surprise and delight at the video.
“Did we all know elephants could swim?!” one TikTok user said in the comments section.
“That’s awesome,” another user said, Another TIkTok user said: “I have never seen this. Amazing!”
“I have such mixed emotions,” someone else commented.
Although it may seem surprising due to their size, elephants are fully capable swimmers. In the wild, elephants can easily walk up to 80 miles a day, meaning swimming can be a welcome change and relief on their legs.
In the wild, swimming may also be necessary when they cross rivers and lakes on annual migrations. Some experts believe that Asian elephants came to be in Sri Lanka because they crossed the sea by swimming. There are an estimated 7,500 elephants living in Sri Lanka today.
They can actually swim for up to six hours at a time.
As some TikTok commenters pointed out, their trunks make it easy for them to swim underwater while still being able to breathe.
“They come with a great snorkel,” one TikTok user said. Another social media user said: “Built-in snorkel. makes sense.”
“They got a built-in snorkel of course they swim,” another person said. “I bet that feels heavenly on their joints lol,” another person commented.
Elephants also like to play in the water. They will often splash each other and make waves in the water, especially as a way to cool down on hot days.
Asian elephants are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There are an estimated 16,000 living in captivity, according to a 2019 study.
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