With trembling legs and desperate eyes, the mother nudged the truck, begging the lifeless body beneath to rise.

Video footage captured the heartbreaking moment a grief-stricken mother elephant desperately tried to move the truck that killed her calf.

The heavy vehicle collided with the young elephant in Perak, northern Malaysia, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The baby elephant is said to have died trapped under the front end of the motortruck.

The elephant mother was later sedated and moved to rejoin its herd while authorities removed the calf’s carcass, news reports said.

Wildlife activists called on the government to step up efforts to provide wildlife crossings on the highway, which already has signs warning motorists of the potential dangers.

Heartbreaking: The grief-stricken mother elephant was filmed desperately trying to move the truck that killed her calf out of the way

Malaysia is one of the world’s most biodiverse and animal-rich countries, with more than 360 species of mammals including elephants and tapirs living in its tropical forests.

DistressingL The baby elephant is said to have died trapped under the front end of the lorry in Perak, northern Malaysia

Researchers have established that elephants’ emotional characteristics are similar to those of humans.

Earlier this year, scientists in India revealed that elephants perform funeral-like practices similar to humans.

Researchers in the country’s Bengal region discovered five calf burials in 2022 and 2023.

In each case, the herd had carried the deceased calf by its trunk and legs, before burying it in the earth with its legs facing upwards.

The calves were buried in irrigation canals on tea estates, hundreds of meters away from the nearest human settlements.

Post-mortems confirmed that the calves had died of multiple organ failure aged between three months and one year.