In the heartbreaking footage, the calf can be seen lying on his mother after she died from a serious internal infection.
The elephant kept a vigil by his mother's side all throughout the night, with animal charity workers having to stand guard to protect the vulnerable creature from predators.
By morning, the workers moved in to tranquilise the calf - the only way they could remove it from the mother. They then transported the calf from Kenya to Nairobi, where they run their Wildlife Trust.
But despite his tragic start in life, this elephant is lucky. After being rescued by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, he has been taken in to be reared by them until old enough to fend for himself.
When he is three, he will be released into a national park and then eventually reintegrated into the wild.
The trust work tirelessly to save orphaned elephants, after their parents are either killed by poachers or die of natural causes. The poaching of elephants for ivory, meat and skin, combined with their habitat being destroyed for human use, has caused the species to become endangered.