An elephant (Loxodonta africana) in Addo in the National Park of Elephants. South Africa.
World elephant day or "Elephant" is one of the international holidays dedicated to elephants, which is celebrated annually, on November 30.
The holiday was established on the initiative of ecologists, concerned about the reduction in the number of the largest land mammals on the planet.
Watching these big animals, you feel to them an involuntary respect and admiration. It seems that they are very calm, intelligent and ancient animals.
We know so little about these amazing animals, and some of our knowledge is also erroneous, so let's try to debunk some myths about elephants.
All elephants are gray.
In fact, elephants can be of different colors - there are pinkish, gray, smoky and even white elephants.
In Thailand, white elephants are very popular, which are very rare and are used for royal needs, being a symbol of power.
The white elephant even caused a war between Burma and Thailand about four centuries ago.
They are born very rarely, it is believed that the more such animals in the country, the more favorable the heaven to the state.
A beautiful Thai legend says that the Milky Way is a large herd of white elephants that graze in the night sky. In general, the color of elephants depends on the color of the soil on which these animals live, as well as on the dust that they shower each other.
Two elephants play in the Kariega Game Reserve. South Africa.
The elephant walks through the open plain at sunset in the Serengeti National Park.
Two playful elephants in Addo in the National Park of Elephants.
Elephants are afraid of mice. This is the most common myth about elephants, replicable even in children's cartoons. Scientists have conducted several experiments, wishing to refute or confirm this belief. In a pile of elephant manure, researchers hid the mouse, hoping to show it to the elephants when they approach. It should be noted that, having noticed the mouse, the elephant was very surprised and preferred to retire. The experiment was repeated several times, and the result would be the same. Elephants, after seeing the mouse, really preferred to stay away from it. This is not due to the fearfulness of elephants, but to their natural caution. These animals prefer to stay away from unknown and incomprehensible creatures, but do not panic at the same time. So this myth can be considered partly fair. In other experiments, elephants did not rush at all, but quietly trampled on small rodents, which once again confirms the statement that there is no fear of mice in elephants.
The intoxicated elephant is extremely dangerous. This legend is very common among tourists who are going to visit Africa. It is said that drunken elephants and elephants, madly, rush through the steppes, breaking down buildings and crushing small animals. There are rumors that they almost lie in wait for people in ambush, striving to catch unawares. All these are solid myths. Often stories about this are included in the guidebooks in order to give the journey a raid of danger and extreme. Elephants really eat the fruits of marula, but this does not get drunk at all. Although these fruits contain alcohol, but the maximum effect is given only by ripe fallen fruit, which the elephant will never lift from the ground. It is impossible to imagine an elephant that will stand near a tree with ripe juicy fruits in anticipation of when they will finally ripen and fall into their mouth. Scientists even counted the number of fruits from which the elephant can actually get intoxicated - for this it will take about 27 liters of pure juice, that is, almost one and a half thousand mature fruits, which is simply unrealistic. But there are many anecdotes about drunken elephants standing on their hind legs and celebrating need in bushes, or talking with travelers. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, scientists came to the conclusion that elephants eat these fruits for warming, people just really want to see a drunken elephant, so they believe in this myth.
The main function of an elephant is to transfer weights.
History is widely known for the use of elephants as combat units, in Southeast Asia, they replaced the cavalry, were a vehicle or an intimidating means. The troops that had elephants in their ranks had the maximum chances of victory, and the more these soldiers were in the army, the greater the likelihood of success. Battle elephants even had a special harness.
The other side of these animals is also interesting.
In the city of Lampang there is even a whole elephant center, in which the inhabitants differ from their relatives in the ability to draw and play on various musical instruments. Of course, this action takes place with the help of a person holding the canvas and helping to dunk the brush into the paint. This center is very popular with tourists who willingly buy the pictures they like. There also pass exhibitions of the most interesting works.
Therefore, we should not reduce the possibilities of these animals only to physical work, the possibilities of elephants are diverse and, no doubt, man still has to learn a lot about elephants.
