This fact is known to all since childhood. Of course, it seems strange, but is there anything like this in our life? For some mysterious reason, elephants are afraid of mice. I must say that this amazing fact was told by the Roman Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, written in the 1st century.
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The unusual reaction of the giants did not go unnoticed, it is regularly remembered, mentioned in fairy tales, and in our time – in cartoons. The brave little mouse turns out to be the creature that the giant elephant is terrified of. But zoos and circuses have made it possible to calmly and thoughtfully study this phenomenon by analyzing its causes.
So, is there a scientific explanation for this irrational fear of mice in elephants? Scientists have long decided to investigate this phenomenon. There is a version that the elephant is afraid of getting a small animal into its trunk, which can block the supply of oxygen. According to another version, the mouse can gnaw on huge feet, which forces the elephants to sleep standing up. According to a simpler version, the giants are simply frightened by a quiet rustle that is heard somewhere below.
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Elephants fear rustle and noise
For elephants, a quiet rustle is associated with the approach of predators – this is how lions, tigers and leopards sneak, preying on the younger representatives of the herd. So they get used to it from childhood that rustling is associated with a serious danger. But scientists have found that this is the primary reaction. Then, when the elephants see the source of the sound, they quickly calm down.
And if there are predators, people or a source of noise nearby, then the herd may refuse to sleep in order to move to a more peaceful place. Elephants generally do not like noise or sudden movements, so not only a mouse, but also other creatures can make them alert or nervous. Giants don’t like it when something runs or rolls nearby. But along with mice, dogs, snakes, cats and other creatures can also cause anxiety.
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Are elephants afraid of mice?
Scientists regularly conduct experiments, trying to understand the degree of “compatibility” of mice and elephants. Rodents were both planted on the trunk and hidden inside it, hidden, and then suddenly released, laid on sleeping giants. After all, you need to understand what exactly the elephants will start to get scared of! But the reason has never been found. Richard Lair, a scientist at the Thai National Elephant Institute, doesn’t understand why giants might have this fear at all. If suddenly the mouse gets into the trunk, then the elephant will calmly push out this obstacle. Yes, and there is no point in chewing on the soles of elephants. The famous American circus of the Ringling brothers, Barnum and Bailey, back in 2006, tried to understand the reason for the fear of elephants in front of mice. The giants were shown rodents, but they simply did not react to them. So the popular claim turned out to be a myth.
Elephants also do not always sleep standing up. Scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa in 2017 decided to study the sleep of elephants in their natural environment. It turned out that even a couple of hours of rest is enough for them to carry out normal life activities. And elephants do not descend to the ground very often, every three or four days. In this state, they spend almost an hour. However, this behavior is also characteristic of other animals.
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What are elephants afraid of?
Nevertheless, it is impossible to call elephants absolutely fearless. American scientists, who visited Kenya in 2010 on a business trip, found the reluctance of elephants to approach trees with ants. Researchers believe that animals are afraid of burning bites of small insects in the mucous membrane of the trunk. Elephants are also endangered by bees. Although it is customary to call giants thick-skinned, they actually feel bites very much, as well as pheromones emitted by angry insects. Elephants catch this subtle smell and try to stay away from it – they obviously do not want to be stung.
To confirm this fact, a special experiment was even carried out. The mixture of pheromones was treated with rags, which were placed near the road for the elephants to drink. Animals, sensing something was wrong, tried to bypass this place. But rags without the smell of pheromones did not cause any special reaction. So elephants are clearly afraid of painful bites, avoiding their possible source. In Africa, farmers have even learned to use this fact to their advantage by placing bee hives next to their crops. But scientists believe that it will be much easier and no less effective to use special matrices with the right odors.
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