China wild elephants snooze together after 500km trek

A herd of wild elephants that has been marching towards a Chinese city was filmed snoozing together on a forest floor on Monday.

Adorable aerial footage shows the animals lying closely together with a baby in their midst.

The elephants have been causing chaos near the major city of Kunming, trampling crops and damaging buildings.

They have trekked 500 kilometres since leaving their home – a nature reserve in southwest Yunnan – last spring. No one knows why.

Authorities monitoring the herd said it was the first time they’d seen the entire group resting together in 12 days. Elephants are the shortest sleeping mammal.