Security camera footage from the San Diego Zoo recently showed how its elephant herd formed a protective circle around its young after they were surprised by a recent earthquake.

Originating about 3 miles south of Julian, Southern California, the magnitude 5.2 tremblor, gave the region down to Tijuana a good shaking.

At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a herd of three female elephants and their two calves were startled by the quake, and footage of them organizing to protect their young has made headlines.

Known to pachydermologists as an “alert circle,” the female adults quickly encircled their young back-to-back, tusks and trunks outward. It’s how the animals defend their young on the savanna, where predators’ only hope of poaching elephants depends on separating them from their youngsters.

Elephants have the ability to feel sound through their feet, so an earthquake is presumably more frightening for them than us. Many elephant strongholds such as Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa are prone to both intense and benign earthquakes.

“The herd, consisting of Ndlula, Umngani, Khosi, and youngsters Zuli and Mkhaya, went back to normal after about 4 minutes, though they did stay close to one another,” Emily Senninger, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Zoo, told GNN.

WATCH them make the ‘Alert Circle’ below…