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submitted 4 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Juice@midwest.social 75 points 4 months ago

The Elephant and Mice episode was so wild, because if I remember correctly, the elephant didn't act afraid of the mouse, it acted afraid it would step on and harm the mouse; as if the elephant had a basic understanding and concern for the wellbeing of another creature conspicuously lacking in many human beasts

[-] IzzyScissor@lemmy.world 45 points 4 months ago

Yep. Elephants are wonderfully kind creatures. With my very limited understanding of elephant body language, it didn't look like an 'oh no, im scared' it was more 'oh hey little guy, didn't see ya there. ill get outta your way.'

[-] frezik@midwest.social 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Just smart as hell. This video makes me wonder if elephants legit have a sense of humor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VOvEFHDOaU

Animal behavior can be difficult to interpret (and even when descriptions come from experts, I often find myself asking "yeah, but how do we really know that?"), but this looks very close to being like someone who's known for lighthearted pranks.

[-] IzzyScissor@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

Oh my goooooood. This is so delightful, you can almost see the smirk. Thank you for sharing. <3

[-] Lumidaub@feddit.de 6 points 4 months ago

I WANT to believe this but I've seen too many elephant videos that turned out to be just elephants trained to do a quirky thing for tourists and there's someone off camera subtly directing them.

[-] drosophila 1 points 4 months ago

Elephants are wonderfully kind creatures

So long as they're not a bull in musth.

[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 9 points 4 months ago

It's amazing how intelligent and emotionally mature elephants are. It's not wonder why people were willing to believe that "Elephants have a moon religion!" line for so long, it seems believable with how often elephants seem to act like chonky humans with a trunk instead of arms.