An elephant never forgets: Mother is overcome with emotion when reunited with her daughter after three years apart.

The old adage that an elephant never forgets appears to be true, based on a touching video showing an Asian elephant returning to her mother after years apart.

After a 62-mile (100km) trek through the Thai jungle, Me-Bai, the small elephant can be seen nuzzling her mother, Mae Yui, while the pair joyfully flap their ears and caress each other with their trunks in the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary, in the north of the country.

Me-Bai was sold to provide rides for tourists in Thailand when she was three-and-a-half years old, and didn't see her mother, who also worked in the trade, for three years.

It is particularly sad because females tend to stick together in herds until they die, sharing incredibly strong bonds. They are very rarely separated before the calf is five years of age.

The small elephant left the tourism trade 'because she [Me-Bai] was too young [and] began to lose weight and could not carry the tourists any longer,' according to Elephant News' YouTube page.

Me-Bai was recently rescued and brought to the sanctuary after a tiring 62 mile (100km) trek in the hot sun that lasted four days. More pics after the cut...........