Elephant facts
While investigating facts about Elephant, I found out little known, but curios details like:
When Lawrence Anthony, known as "The Elephant Whisperer", passed away. A herd of elephants arrived at his house in South Africa to mourn him. Although the elephants were not alerted to the event, they travelled to his house and stood around for two days, and then dispersed.
A researcher once played a recording of an elephant who had died. The sound was coming from a speaker hidden in a thicket. The family went wild calling, looking all around. The dead elephant’s daughter called for days afterward. The researchers never again did such a thing.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Elephant I managed to collect.
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Elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror, and also passed a body awareness test. These two tests are very rarely passed by non-primates.
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An elephant learnt from its mates about a sanctuary, and when poachers injured him, he used this second-hand knowledge to seek help from humans in the sanctuary
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A 30-year-old elephant named Ben sought help at a safari lodge after being shot by poachers. The elephant waited patiently near the lodge for the 6 hours it took for a vet to fly in and dress his 3 bullet wounds.
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When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, the public doubted the stability of the bridge. Six days later, a pedestrian fell, causing a woman to scream, which led to a stampede that killed 12. Public concern was only dispelled a year later when P.T. Barnum marched 21 elephants across it.
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Elephants are so complex they are able to mourn, cry, have mental breakdowns, play the drums, paint, mimic humans’ speech and show basic arithmetic skills.
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An elephant destroyed a house in a remote village in Bengal and then turned to head back into the forest when a baby trapped under the rubble began crying. The elephant turned back and gently removed every last bit of debris covering the baby with their trunk.
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After stepping on her trainer's head, Mary the Asian elephant (also known as 'Murderous Mary") was hanged from a crane until death. It was later discovered that she had an infected tooth, and the unqualified trainer had prodded it, which caused her to react.
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The Book of Mormon tells of things like cattle, donkeys, steel, silk, elephants, and wheat in Pre-Columbian America. None of them existed in America before the 1500's.
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Elephants are a keystone species. They carve pathways through impenetrable under brush shaping entire ecosystems as they create pools in dried river beds and spread seeds as they travel.
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After a screening of the film The Elephant Man, studio executives recommended the surreal scenes be cut. Producer Mel Brooks responded: "We screened the film to bring you up to date as to the status of that venture. Do not misconstrue this as our soliciting the input of raging primitives."
Elephant data charts
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What is true about elephant?
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Agatha Christie’s novel “Elephants Can Remember” reveals distinct signs of Alzheimer’s onset, e.g., 20% fewer words or ⅕ of her vocabulary lost; 6 times more use of nonspecific words such as “thing”, and a sharp drop in “idea density”. That novel's last line is “Maybe it’s OK not to remember.”.
In 2003 a herd of wild elephants released a group of captive antelopes from a game reserve in Southeast Africa. The matriarch of the herd undid all of the gate's metal latches with her trunk & then pushed it open. The antelope took their chance & ran into the bush followed by the elephants. - source
The Simpsons' "Bart Gets an Elephant" is based on an episode of "The Price is Right". An elephant was offered as a "bonus prize" as a joke. The real prize was $4,000 but the contestant wanted the elephant . The contestant got his wish & a live elephant from Kenya was delivered to him. - source
About a species of human that grew no larger than a modern 3-year-old child and lived on a remote island in Indonesia 18,000 years ago. These humans lived alongside Homo sapiens. They manufactured sophisticated stone tools, hunted elephants, and more, all with a brain only 1/3 the size of ours.
Elephants can tell the difference between human languages and know which languages belong to people with a history of hurting elephants. - source
Elephants are highly empathetic and generous even towards other species. Once an elephant found a rancher with a broken leg and dragged him under the shade of a tree, guarding him and gently touching him with her trunk
When the Supreme Court of India opened six of the seven secret vaults of Padmanabhaswamy Temple, they discovered $22 billion in treasure including, golden idols, golden elephants and idols wearing 18 foot diamond necklaces, as well as countless bags of gold coins from around the world.
Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.
Northern Elephant Seals were thought to be extinct until eight were discovered on Guadalupe Island in 1874 by a Smithsonian expedition. They then killed seven for their collections.
In 1862 President Lincoln had to politely decline an offer from the king of Siam to send the United States a herd of elephants for use in the Civil War against the Confederacy.
Scientists accidentally discovered that grazing animals prevent grasslands from becoming desert after they killed thousands of elephants to try and conserve remaining grasslands, yet it actually made desertification worse. When they increased the number of grazing animals it restored the land.
