World's Luckiest Tortoise Survives Elephant Stampede!

Saved by the bell, or in the animal kingdom, it is more like saved by your shell…

Watch the dramatic moment a tortoise finds himself between the feet of a thirsty herd of elephants that is on its way down to the waterhole.

This tortoise captured the heart of many of the live-viewers watching this sighting unfold from all over the world on WildEarth’s live webcam - http://bit.ly/KwaMaritaneWaterhole.

The sighting starts off with a lone tortoise down by the water, quenching his thirst. Suddenly, viewers could start hearing a bit of a rumble coming from the area and the tortoise immediately went into his shell before the rowdy crowd came along.

A thirsty herd of elephants in the Pilanesberg strolled down to the watering hole for a drink from the Kwa Maritane lodge.

Interestingly enough, the elephants seemed to be aware of the tortoise’s presence and were very careful to step over the tortoise or only bump him gently with their giant feet. Everyone watching was just waiting for the unfortunate moment that one elephant didn’t see this unusual “rock” and steps right onto it. But it miraculously didn’t happen!

For a minute or so, the herd was standing over the tortoise, having a good time in the water! But luckily, the elephants soon moved a bit upstream and the tortoise immediately saw an escape path, letting him flee for his life back to the safety of the surrounding bush.