Do you think elephants are afraid of mice?
By chrisdarryn
@chrisdarryn (71)
July 16, 2010 5:00am CST
How many people believe that elephants are afraid of mice?
Did you know that this is just a myth, this idea came around many years ago, it started because people believed that a mouse would run up an elephants trunk therefore suffocating the elephant.
Elephants are not actually afraid of mice, infact what scares elephants is the sudden movements and noise in there enviroments, this is another reason why people believe elephants are afraid, an elephant is startled by sudden movements so when people see a mouse run near an elephant it appears the elephant was scared but like i say it is not the mouse itself that scared the elephant it is the sudden movement and /or squeeking, once the elephant see's the mouse and relizes it is just a small fury animal the elephant is no longer fazed and will go about its normal business.
Have you ever noticed that captive elephants normally have mice running around there enclosure (because of there dung) now elephants have very good senses of smell and mice absolutely stink, don't you think if an elephant was afraid that in cases like this an elephant would be going crazy trying to get away. it is just not true!
Elephants are also very docile creatures and if they saw an animal smaller than it would actually walk around it to avoid stepping on it but in some peoples eyes this may appear that the elephant is afraid and is trying to avoid it. The point is elephants are the largest land animals in the world and travel in herds, they have no fear of being attacked by carnivores (unless they have young) and are not afraid of other animals, their fears are natural disasters, man, and losing their young!
http://www.elephant-world.com/facts-about-elephants.html
I would provide more links but mylot winds me up by not letting me copy and paste them! I can literally write 2 words go to copy and paste something and mylot tells me your word count is greater than 500, I dont know about you but i have never seen a link 500 characters long lol..
There is a video by myth busters that i awanted to link but if you go to google it will be there.
5 responses
@o0jopak0o (6394)
• Philippines
16 Jul 10
well i have seen the mythbusters one. And i think its a possibility.
@chrisdarryn (71)
•
17 Jul 10
hi, it could be a possibility but i think you should watch the mythbusters one again, and watch how the elephants really react,
If elephants are afraid they will run, this elephant does not run away.
When the mouse is relised the elephant stops suddenly, now look at its reaction, the elephant does not appear afraid it appears startled, this can be identified by the elephant stopping suddenly and raising one leg,(horses react the same way) the elephant does not then run away or even go in the opposite direction, the elephant infact walks around the mouse but heading in the same direction. Elephants are not stupid, when the mythbusters only roll the dung the elephant isn't bothered, thats because the elephant knows it is just dung, when the mouse was there and moved the elephant knew, stopped and walked round it, remeber elephants have very good hearing and sense of smell and would have identified that something was there.
This video is also not done in the correct scientific method, there was no scientific controls really inplace, to make this a fair experiment they needed to show how a elephant would have reacted to a number of different things, for example a wind up toy, other sudden noises,predators being near, and also to run the test over several different elephants, inclding a number of wild elephants vs captive elephants.
@llbo1981 (1237)
• China
16 Jul 10
Maybe elephant is afraid of mice.Although elephant has huge body than mice,the mice has quick rapid than elephant.It is hard to say that whether elephant is afraid mice or not.It the mice want to bite elephant,the elephant has no way to protect itself.Do you think so?
@chrisdarryn (71)
•
17 Jul 10
a mouse biting an elephant once wouldn't really bother an elephant, however constant biting would, now i don't think a mouse is really gonna have the bottle to run up to an animal a million times its size and just start biting it, an elephants defence is its shear size, thick tough skin, weight, trunk and feet, also elephants are very strong and can run at unexpected speeds knocking trees down on their way. Would you fight an elephant...no the elephant would just trample you and that would be the end. How do humans react for example "quick theirs a spider kill it" because its small, however someone afraid of a dog, will walk the opposite direction not taking their attention away from the dog until no longer in sight.
Again with the myth buster video, the mouse is small does the elephant trample it? No, but if that was a lion which is a predator, the elephant would not run away it would infact charge the lion, the elephant knows the lion will retreat, their is no way it would win on it's own. The elpehant would think the same with a mouse, its not going to think lets attack that lion it can't hurt me, lets runaway from that mouse before it nibbles me.
@Bellapop (1279)
•
16 Jul 10
I agree entirely with what you have said, animals are actually very tolerant towards each other as long as they can see what each other is all about. Every living thing is afraid of sudden unexpected noise and movement and it's the same with humans, only that, when the human can actually see it's only a small mouse, they don't just walk around it, they don't just calm down and think 'oooh it's only a mouse much smaller than me...' we just go hysterical, run, jump, scream and scream.... :D
@chrisdarryn (71)
•
17 Jul 10
Thank you bellapop, if people take the time logically think about this, they would relize it really is a myth, why would the largest mammel on land be afraid of one of the smallest that causes no immediate danger or threat of life, but an elephant can live right next door to a lion, or a tiger and not be scared, point is a lion or tiger would think " you think i'm gonna attack that, fool you crazy" and the elephant knows it, its done to elephants having poor eyesight, they rely on knowing their enviroment and the noises it made, when an unexpected noise is heard and the elephnats can't identify where it is coming from, this makes them anxiuos and more alerrt, once they know what the noise is they are fine.
@cutefem123 (228)
• India
16 Jul 10
please don't give links to another websites as you may be banned due to fair usage policies.please read the FAQ and terms& conditions of mylot.now coming to my answer.elephants are afraid of mice because they are small enough to get into their nose and stop them breathing.elephants don't like ants also for the same reason.
