Adorable baby elephant thinks swimming man is drowning and tries to save him

A Youtube video showing a baby elephant rushing to save a man it thinks is drowning has recently gone viral.

The minute-long video was posted by elephantnews on Oct 12.

The video was taken at the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand and the "drowning" man is Darrick, an employee at the reserve.

In the video, Darrick is enjoying a leisurely swim when the baby elephant, named Kham Lha, breaks away from its herd to "save" him.

Darrick tries to swim away from Kham Lha but it catches up with him and the two share a "hug".

This is not the first time Darrick and Kham Lha's relationship has captured the hearts of netizens. A video showing Kham Lha running to Darrick when he called her name also went viral.

The two share a special bond, with other videos showing Kham Lha holding Darrick's hand with its trunk.

According to their website, Elephant Nature Park is reserve in Northern Thailand which cares for a variety of animals including elephants, dogs, cats and buffaloes.