Summary: Stereotypes hurt. Some are negative: insinuating certain groups can’t drive well, are inherently lazy, all look the same or pronounce “about” incorrectly. Some can be positive: claiming everyone from a certain group is good with money, are superior athletes, are good at math or are extremely polite. All of them are hurtful, and if you went through that list trying to match each example to an ethnic group, you’re a bad person. Our lies don’t just extend to our own species though. We slander our way through most of the plant and animal kingdom. We even adopt some of their names to insult others (weasel, rat, William Dafoe). However, few animals have had more unjust rumors spread about them than the majestic elephant. With the international day of tolerance less than seven months away, it’s time to set the record straight about our long nosed friends. 1. Elephants Are Afraid of Mice Be cool man, be cool! Just take my wallet and go! Starting off with a classic. The idea that the mighty elephant, the largest present day land-dwelling animal could be frightened by a tiny mouse speaks to us. If something that big could be afraid of something that small, are you really such a girlie-girl for wetting yourself when you see a spider? The only thing better would be if we could get footage of a blue whale getting scared by an anchovy, and we have our best men working on that around the clock. This is one that’s been around for a while, most of us hearing about it from the movie Dumbo or from old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Some attribute it to accounts from circus workers who supposedly witnessed their plus-sized performers being terrified first hand. Some unscientific studies from sources like MythBusters have also contributed to the idea that they’re all giant scaredy-phants. However, if you talk to a scientist, zookeeper, or one of the people from the next section of this article, you get a very different picture. Elephants are known to be bold, intelligent and occasionally merciless killers. They live in the same places as lions and tigers and know how to handle them. So is there nothing that scares them? As it turns out, yes there is, and no, it’s not mice. You are in for a world of hurt, boy. Elephants don’t like what they can’t see, which turns out to be a lot of things. Though they have good hearing and an exceptional sense of smell, their eyesight is pretty shoddy. An observable threat can be addressed, but unidentified movement, sounds and smells, especially ones close by, is a real turn off for them. One of the boilerplate pieces of advice you’ll get from animal experts is to never make sudden movements. So scurrying in a nearby brush might startle an elephant, whether it’s a mouse, a predator, or some stupid tourist with a zoom lens. And if you really did scare an elephant, you’re probably not going to end up laughing as it runs away, trunk between its legs. Elephants mean business, as some people already know. 2. Elephants Are Angry Drunks Elephant Beer: A Taste You’ll Trample For! You’d think with people talking smack about their phobias, elephants would have earned the right to a drink here or there. Unfortunately, when the booze kicks in there’s a lot of stampeding, devastation and death. Family reunions aside, stories of murderous, drunken elephants have been reported for years, including two attacks in the Indian province of Assam. While breaking into human farms for food, as they sometimes do, the behemoths stumbled onto casks of homemade rice beer and proceeded to get gong-showed. The first attack killed 4 and injured 6, while the second killed six and injured several others. So are elephants gentle giants who can’t hold their sauce? Are they simply lacking some kind of Elepholics Anonymous? Actually, no. These attacks, which occurred years apart, account for only a fraction of the total elephant related deaths. In fact, as many as 500 people die each year from encounters with elephants. Artist’s rendition of India[...]
