Questions tagged [elephants]

for questions about claims based on elephants. Elephants have historically been poached for their tusks and are the largest extant land animals.

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Is it bad for an elephant’s back to carry a human?

Lots of sites warn you not to ride elephants as they are often treated poorly and don't have freedom (1,2). But these sites also mention that it’s bad for the back of an elephant. With some ...
SirDuckduck's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
12k views

Do elephants see humans the same way humans see puppies?

This tweet and others like it have been making the rounds lately: Julia‏ @JuliaHass I just learned that elephants think humans are cute the way humans think puppies are cute (the same part of ...
fluffy's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
720 views

Do elephants rarely get cancer?

According to Hope fights childhood cancer: Elephants have 40 cancer fighting proteins in their DNA which means they rarely get cancer This immediately made me think of the false claims that sharks ...
Rob Watts's user avatar
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16 votes
1 answer
45k views

Do elephants "trunk" themselves (masturbate)?

A few sources report that elephants use their trunks to masturbate. This practice, if it exists, is apparently called trunking, Per todayilearned.co.uk, This may not be the most useful piece of ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
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16 votes
2 answers
9k views

Can an elephant be trained to be lightly leashed?

Is been claimed that the way you keep an elephant leashed is with a chain pegged to the ground which they can easily break, just since they have learned when they where younger they could not escape ...
Napoleonothecake's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
4k views

Do elephants like to get drunk?

While answering the question about elephants and mice, I was reminded of a clip I saw on The Big Bang Theory. The common lore is that they eat the fermenting fruit of the Marula Tree. But that makes ...
Larian LeQuella's user avatar