Mother and daughter elephants reunite and prove they don't forget

An elephant taken from its family and sold into the Thai tourism trade has been filmed having a heartwarming reunion with its mother after three years apart.

Ma-Bei the elephant was forced to give rides to paying customers after being taken away from its mother, Mae Yum, as a three-year-old in 2011.

After becoming too weak to carry tourists due to stress, she was retired to Elephant Nature Park in northern Thailand, where her new owners set out to reunite her with her mother.

They were filmed being reunited on Friday, and going by the happy scene at their reunion, they certainly hadn't forgotten each other.

Caretakers at Elephant Nature Park are now said to be working towards returning the pair to the wild.

The story of Ma-Bei and her mother is reminiscent of Shirley and Jenny, two crippled elephants who were reunited at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in 2000 after 22 years apart.