Unsettling video has emerged from South Africa of a young elephant calf being repeatedly picked up and thrown by an older elephant bull, or adult male.

The incident was recorded in Addo Elephant National Park by nature guide Jenni Smithies and photographer Lloyd Carter during a ride past a watering hole. Their video, seen through car windows, shows the calf as it struggles to stand and is forcefully knocked to the dirt by a young male elephant that is visibly in pursuit of a sexual partner.

Eventually, the infant calf is protected by a female elephant, presumably its mother, and the male leaves.

"This is the worst case of this kind of behavior I have seen," says Joyce Poole, an