A touching set of pictures taken in the Sabah region of Borneo show the calf getting into difficulty as it tried to clamber up the steep bank after crossing the river Kinabatangan with his mother.
‘The mother tried to push it but she couldn’t manage on her own so called on two members of her family.
‘While the mother pushed the others flattened the mud to make it more accessible for the calf. About half an hour later they were all on their way.’
He added: ‘I’ve been studying elephants for many years but some of the students I was with were blown away by the elephants’ behaviour.
‘It goes to show that animals often take care of each other better than humans.’
Elephants are known for living in tight knit matriarchal families with the adult females looking after their sick, injured, or orphaned offspring.
Like human offspring, calves remain with their mothers until they are teenagers, with some female elephants known to stay with their parent for their entire lives.
They eventually grow to up to 9.8ft tall and consume a staggering 270kg of food a day.
Asian elephants have been domesticated for thousands of years. The powerful beasts have been employed to move heavy objects, such as felled trees, to carry humans on their backs, and even to wage war.
VIDEO Mother rescues baby elephant from raging river in Borneo