WEBVTT - Elephants: The Best Animals? 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:14.080 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.840 There's Charles w Chuck, Bryan Jerry. We're just feeling wacky 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.880 or here. You want to know why? Why? Because this 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.320 is the stuff you should know about. Maybe the greatest 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.560 animal walking the planet. And I'm including human beings elephants. 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:34.920 I'm big on elephants. YEA love elephants. Might be emily 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:39.160 spirit animals. She hasn't decided yet. Yeah, I can say, 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.080 is really Oh yeah, wow, they have the same spirit 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.200 animal that's gonna eat. Yeah, I know. I like that. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.000 I didn't know that. I didn't know you mean was 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.520 an elephant or she is big time into elephant elephantist. 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:56.760 M Um, all right, Charles, are you ready for this? Yes? 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:01.400 And really quickly. Because we love elephants. We want to 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.360 go on a safari one day. You know I've mentioned before, 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.039 but now I know and we'll get to this later. 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:07.560 I was like, man, I want to I want to 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.959 swim with those things. Don't do it, No, I shouldn't 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.399 do it. Don't write them, Nope, don't do any of 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.440 those things where you see people on Facebook bragging about 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.280 writing and getting bade by elephants. Don't do it. Yeah, 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:25.480 it's true, Like that's not ethical or humane because we'll 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.520 just say it now. The reason why is because too, 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.399 elephants are wild animals. They're not domesticated. Although they display 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:37.679 some really bizarre affectionate behavior towards humans there that can 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.440 make you think they are domesticated, there's still wild animals. 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:46.080 So to train them to basically ensure that they're not 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.960 ever going to you know, stomp a person or something 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.400 like that, you have to take them as as babies 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.840 and what's called crushing their spirit and just basically scare 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.760 them so bad or beat them physically, right, that's part 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:05.320 of the process of crushing their spirit. Like yeah, beat them, 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.560 the rate them, starve them, tie their legs together, keep 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.560 them in a pen all to basically teach them that 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:13.840 humans are in charge and that they should be scared 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.400 to death of of doing anything untoward toward a human. 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.639 That's how you can write an elephant, or how you 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.120 can bathe with an elephant or um, you me wanted 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.399 a painting by an elephant, Like, there's elephants that make paintings. 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.679 There's one here in Atlanta, okay, that makes paintings. So 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.720 we researched it right before we were about to order, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.360 and she's like, wait a minute, let me just see 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.000 if this is okay. And it turns out that they 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.080 basically use the same techniques. To to make an elephant 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.560 do what human wants it to, you have to be 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:51.280 very cruel to them usually, So there you go. People 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.200 don't do it. Yeah, it was a weird intro. It 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.519 was in my crawl. Uh, obviously it was in yours 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.080 a little bit. But let's talk about elephants, the good stuff. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.840 There are three species. You probably grew up thinking like 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.440 I did, that there's the African elephant and the Asian elephant. 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.440 Sure that everybody knows that. But now they have broken 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.200 down the African element element the elephant into two camps, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:21.200 the bush elephant and the forest elephant, both African and 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.120 like I said, for many many years, and you will 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:28.359 still see in a lot of places, um just two species. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.600 But that is that is not true anymore. No one 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.639 to three um so, and the bush elephant and the 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.680 forest elephant are so closely related that if they if 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.360 they run up against one another because some of their 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.320 their habitats kind of overlap, they could reproduce and have babies, 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.280 which no problem whatsoever. But the Asian elephant is so 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.720 distantly related to them, even though they seem, you know, 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.320 it's just another kind of elephant, it's an elephant that 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:02.600 they probably they could receivably have a kid. And actually 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.120 one was born in a zoo in the seventies, but 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.360 he died after like I think twelve days of an infection. 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.520 UM that they probably aren't really supposed to aren't supposed 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:18.760 to breed, I guess, is how you'd put it, right, 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:23.040 have offspring. Yeah, so, uh, we're gonna be talking about 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.720 all three, um not interchangeably. We'll we'll point out when 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:30.240 we're talking about what but the African bush elephant, those 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.279 are the biggest ones. They have the biggest ears um 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.000 or at least larger than the Asian elephants, and both 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:41.200 sexes for the African bush elephants are more likely to 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:47.719 have tusks. UM. Some male Asian elephants have tusks, but 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.320 they're not as prominent. That's where you see the smaller tusks. 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.240 And then all three species have five toes on the 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:58.400 front feet, but the African bush elephant has three toes 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:02.680 on the rear. Asian l elephants have four toes on 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:05.640 the rear on each foot. There's a lot of different 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.440 toes going on, a lot of different toes uh. And 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.719 the African forest elephant is generally about the same shape 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:17.839 as his bush bush friend, but they have straighter tusks 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.360 because they're going It makes sense they're going through the 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.080 forest so their tests don't stick way out and get 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.799 caught on every other tree that they're walking by. Yes, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:30.279 And I thought this was really interesting. Um, the the 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:37.360 African um forest elephants are so elusive that like they 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.160 don't they have no idea how many there are, all 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.240 of the all the ideas about their behavior and the 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.760 stuff that they do is just assumptions made based on 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.000 the bush elephant that they're related to. They're that good 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:54.240 at like keeping away from humans. I just think that's amazing. Yeah, 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.520 And they have they're a little bit smaller um than 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.200 the uh than they're they're ends on the savannah, but 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.560 they have the same toe arrangement as the Asian elephant, right, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.440 which is interesting. So the I I had never really 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.440 thought about it, but like, um, a lot of the elephants, 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.560 when I think of elephants. I never realized I was 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.360 thinking of two different species, but they really do. Like 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.600 the Asian elephant and the African bush elephant, they have 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.400 a lot of differences that you can just very quickly 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.560 see which is which kind Like the Asian elephant has 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.039 kind of like the rounded dome head, and they have 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.960 kind of a hump back um and they are a 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.360 little smaller. And then the African bush elephants they're very, 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.080 very big with the big old ears, and they have 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.440 basically what's called like a saddle back. It's kind of 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:45.279 flatish or maybe even concave a little bit too. Yeah, 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.360 and here's here's one of the facts of the show 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.320 for me is there's like fifty and here, and there's 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:54.800 so many but elephants have. They have tuskness like we 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.640 have handedness. They use their right or their left tusk 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.120 more often than the other. And if you ever wonder 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.560 which tusk is the more dominant one, look and see 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:06.360 which one shorter, because that's the one that gets worn 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.280 down quicker. I thought that was amazing, pretty neat. I 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:16.400 just figured they were interchangeable. Yep, nope, yep nope. So 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.320 like it's really kind of I had to stop and 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:24.200 put myself into this like standing like imagine myself standing 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.920 next to these elephants for like measurements for the average Yeah, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.920 you're like, what six ft? Yeah just about I'm pretty good. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.160 I'm like a human dollar bill, you know, a dollar 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.200 bills like a little about six inches. Same thing here, 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.200 I'm six ft. Okay, so just stand me next to something. 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.960 You'd be like, it's about six ft. Don't you know 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.800 about the dollar bill? Well? No, is that used as 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.000 a measuring device when you're short of ruler? Yeah, it's 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.360 about six inches. What if you have no cash but 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.840 you do have a ruler, then you're can you spend 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.680 the ruler and a and a hat shop? You could 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.000 consuerably trade it. Remember that guy who traded he moved. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:01.920 We went from a paper clip to like a house 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.720 trading up. Oh yeah, that guy. That guy could turn 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.360 a ruler into cash. He and soy Bombs share an 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:14.560 apartment now and uh an upstate New York bomb. All right, 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.760 so let's talk about the size of these ladies and 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.000 men because okay, so everybody, imagine me standing next to 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.800 an elephant, and you'll really drive all this home. Yes, right, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.800 so An African forest elephant is Josh's height up to 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.319 about eight feet at the shoulder. Yeah, okay, yeah, you 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.559 don't measure from the top of the dome. Um. I 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.280 wonder why they do that with animals. That's always kind 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.520 of the case, right, because I think if the animals, like, well, 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.440 I want to seem taller, they could just lift their 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.440 head up very high, you know, or if they're trying 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.520 to keep a low profile, they keep their head down 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.640 so the shoulder it's tough to you know, like when 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.960 they're having their kindergarten class picture taken. Right. Uh, the 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.920 African bush elephant is taller. It's about eight to ten 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.160 feet at the shoulder. That's the biggest one. Yeah, four 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.240 to six tons, two to five tons on the forest. 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.680 African and then Asian is seven to nine ft about 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.760 three to five short tons. And we should say there's 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.200 a lot of variation in size here because I think 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.880 one of these experts said that the the outliers can 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:24.000 be as big as twenty taller or larger overall than 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.480 the average, which is huge variation. Yeah, there's I think 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.520 the record for an Asian elephant. And remember there, you know, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.360 at the shoulders seven to nine ft. That's still pretty 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.920 pretty good size. But the record was eleven and a 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.800 quarter feet. And that's a big elephant. Like can you 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.360 imagine that's almost two of me. Yeah, like me standing 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:46.560 on my own shoulders, maybe squatted you own just a 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:50.520 little bit at the shoulder. That's how big that elephant was. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.680 And when you when you're talking short tons, that's two 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.280 thousand pounds. So like an African bush elephant can get 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:02.360 on average up to twelve thousand pounds. That's a big 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.360 boy or a girl. Yeah, the boys are a little 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:09.040 bit bigger. Um, and they live a long long time. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:14.199 Here's sort of some inspiring and sad facts. They can 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:19.840 live fifty seventy years. Uh. They've found and recorded at 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:21.920 least one elephant that lived to be eighty six that 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.760 has set the record, which is just amazing. But here's 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.600 the saddest thing. Um, if you are a zoo elephant, 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:35.240 you live maybe less than half as long. So I 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.680 have to say this. The RSPCA in West SUS six England, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:44.120 UM has been there. Their numbers have been controversial before, 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.880 but in this two thousand and eight study they they 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:53.560 they took hundred African and Asian elephants that lived in 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.920 European zoos over the course of forty five years. And 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.280 this is what they came up with. So, I mean 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:04.160 even in the article that people weren't necessarily contesting this data. 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.760 But I think the way that they explained it was 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.480 that this was old data and so it gave you 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.960 a good idea of how long elephants lived in captivity, 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.520 you know, a few decades ago, back before they knew 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.200 more about keeping them in zoos. Yeah, and here's what 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.760 it says. It said, UM thirty six years and a 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.600 national park in Kenya, UM seventeen years in a zoo. 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.360 But it looks to me like, unless I'm reading this wrong, 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.800 that UM elephants that work in timber camps. You know, 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.520 they're very strong, so they are still using in timber 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.880 camps to haul wood uh in trees and things. They 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.439 actually live longer than zoo elephants. Yeah. So the timber 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.360 elephants of Burma, of Me and mar are very well 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.560 taken care of from what I understand, like they're they're 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.520 considered semi captive and for like the last hundred years 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.120 or so, UM, the people of Burma have you use 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:04.000 them to basically move huge trees right to pull them 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.560 out of the forest for like logging and stuff. But 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.800 they're really well cared for. There's like government veterinarians that 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.280 do health checks and each elephant has their own log 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.840 and from what I saw, which just seems mind blowing 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.800 to me, because there they're, you know, um, being held 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.280 captive in a way to work for humans. And so 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.160 just based on you know, our our track record of 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.400 using animals like that, I it's just weird to me 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.000 that they would be very well taken care of. But 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.280 supposedly they are. UM, and they're considered semi captive because 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.960 at night they're allowed to just kind of wander around 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.400 and go free in the forest and they interact with 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.000 wild Asian elephants and that's how they actually reproduce. Um, 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.000 they're they're not like there's no kind of reproductive oversight. 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.840 It's just go wild, you know. And UM, they apparently 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.840 live very long because they're very well taken care of. 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.480 And here is a little for you. When they get 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.120 pregnant in those working camps, they get maternity leave for 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:09.360 about a year. Yes, So a couple of more quick 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.120 facts and then we'll take a break. Um, little BB 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.920 Elephants are cared for by their mothers until they are 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:23.680 anywhere between thirteen and twenty years old. So it's almost like, well, 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:27.120 not quite, but it's almost like the human experience a 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:29.040 little bit. Yeah, you know somewhere in there. I doubt 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.079 if you're sitting your thirteen year old off, but if 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.800 you're a terrible parent, maybe let's say it's you know, 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.040 thirteen to twenty. Let's say that's eighteen years. It's about 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.080 like a high school age. Uh. And that's also when 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.679 they reach sexual maturity. It takes about twenty to twenty 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.960 two months of gestation, which is the longest longest gestational 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:51.240 period of any animal. I'm sorry, any mammal and a 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:53.800 little bb elephant ways between a hundred and fifty and 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:58.000 two fifty pounds. It's pretty cute. We take a break, Yes, 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:21.600 all right, more pounded facts right after this, Chuck. I 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.760 just think it's adorable that both of our wives got 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.560 us into elephants. We're gonna have to take us safari together. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.400 We should do that, although that's very dangerous, Like we 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:34.200 don't even fly to you know, Tennessee together. We feared 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:35.880 that the plane will go down and the podcast will 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.360 be over. I guess we could trade off. Then it 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.400 would be pretty amazing story though, Like the podcast would 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:44.480 go down in history. If you and I were eaten 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.240 by tigers would be kind of it would be a 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:49.760 heck of a way to go. Well, Emily, and you 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.680 make it just take it over, there you go, and 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.080 it would just all be about animals. They should do 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.760 something together sometime, you know, you like, like they should 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:01.440 read listener mail or something like bad or or or 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:03.400 they should just start their own show called stuff you 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.560 should Know about our husbands. There you go, people, good idea. 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.040 I don't know if we would know, we would not. 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.000 They'd be like, you think they're so great, Let's tell 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.360 you about these slobs. No no, no, no, no, these puts. 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:22.000 So there should be a ding sound because these puts 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:26.120 on every show from now on. Alright, Elephants eat a 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.160 hundred to six hundred pounds of food in a day 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.680 and drink between sixteen and forty gallons of water. Say 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.200 that again, brother, A hundred to six hundred pounds of 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:38.920 food in a day. Um, and they are eating and 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.840 I love this. They basically spend their day when they're 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.000 awake fourteen to sixteen hours a day, just sort of 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.400 looking to eat and drink. Yeah, which is it stinks 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.040 like if you think about it, the reason why they 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.760 have to eat that much is not because they're so big, 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.120 but because, well it is in part but mostly because 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:02.360 they're herbivores and they're digestives. To some is ridiculously inefficient. 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.040 Like if if elephants are as intelligent as they appear 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.440 to be, and probably even more than they appear to 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.520 be once we start to like learn more about them, 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.000 I think all it's gonna do is just provide it 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:18.240 as cascading series of woes. Um. They like, if they 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.560 didn't have to spend so much of their time looking 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.320 for food, what would they be doing? Maybe they would 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.880 learn to paint on their own. Maybe. So the reason 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.680 why they're they're um, they eat so much again is 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.360 because they don't digest a lot of that food, and 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:40.680 so undigested stuff comes out as poop and such frequency 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.000 that you can actually make paper out of it. There's 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.600 elephant poop paper. People use it and they get the 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.080 fiber out of the elephant poop to make paper with. 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:53.120 That's how how undigested so much of their food is. Yeah, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.520 they eat like you said, they are herbivore, so they 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.240 all kinds of plants. Um. They love fruit. I imagine 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.760 that's like the sweet sweet nectar when compared to you know, 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:07.080 like dry bamboo. Um. And they can study their poop 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.560 and learn a lot from their poop, just like most animals. Well, 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.239 elephants don't study their own poop. How do you know 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.080 they might? Now, of course scientists study it and they can. 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.960 They can learn a lot by you know, because like 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.439 you said, those African forest elephants, they're very elusive in 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.120 the forest and you can't find them, but you can't 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:28.800 find their poop everywhere. Yeah, you can tell their anus 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.399 size from the their poop size, which sounds hilarious and 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:36.040 it is. But you also can tell like the age 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.800 and the general size of the elephant based on their 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.639 anus size, which you find based on their poop size. 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.760 That's right. Plus you can make a banging paper out 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.280 of it too. Sure. Uh. The range, the African bush 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.560 elephants have a very wide range across Africa. Um south 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.240 of the Sahara Desert and the forest elephant are in 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.960 rainforest that's the name. Uh. Near the equator sort of 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:05.760 around Cameroon is where they're largely centered as far as Asian. 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.800 They're all over Southeast Asia. Um, they have some in 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.119 China even, but India is really where you're going to 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.520 find the most Asian elephants. Um see Thailand and Anesia, Sumatra, 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.679 Sri Lanka they each have more than a thousand. And 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.639 we already talked about Burma a little bit. They have 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:26.200 the second largest total population worldwide, I guess, except for India. 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:30.159 They have the the largest captive population though of at 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.199 least five thousand, all working in those government timber camps, 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.359 which again I'm just I'm sure somebody's gonna write and 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.200 be like, h don't they're not taking very well care 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:41.920 of But I didn't see anything like that, which I'm 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.520 just astounded by. I don't know if that's coming across 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.959 or not, but I'm really astounded. Yeah, and if you 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:52.240 listen to our episode, um, well, I guess it's either 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.440 from last week or it'll be next week. And then 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.720 I'm predicting the future about elephants swimming in the which 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.080 one set lock nest lock nests. They do love to swim, 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.240 and they are very floaty, they're very buoyant. Um, they 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.720 won't you're not gonna find an elephant drowned in the water. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.000 They can not only swim, but if they get tired, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.080 they can just float bob. Yeah, they can bob in 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:20.679 the water and they apparently an elephant has been recorded 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:25.920 as swimming forty eight kilometers thirty miles. Pretty amazing and 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:31.440 six hours at a stretch. That's pretty nuts. And baby 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:33.720 elephants one of the one of the greatest things you 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.359 can do is sit around and watch baby elephants splashing 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.640 in kittie pools on YouTube. They love it. They love 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.280 to swim. Yeah, let's talk about the trunk. Because when 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.000 you see an elephant and you watch this, if you'd like, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.679 really study an elephant for a while, you look at 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:55.359 that trunk. It's it's it's amazing. It looks like a 0:19:55.400 --> 0:20:01.120 completely separate living thing almost sometimes it Yeah, but it's 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:03.240 a nose. It's basically their upper lip and their nose 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.520 combined together in this elongated form. Yeah. But when they 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:08.080 you know, you watch an elephant, a lot of times 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.960 they're just standing still. But this trunk is doing so 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.200 many crazy looking things. I see what you mean. Yeah, 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:16.000 it just looks like its own, like its own animal, 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:21.720 almost like um the thing from the Adams Family, the 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:25.600 disembodied hand, That's exactly what I was thinking, or the 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.920 the alien hands syndrome guy from our short lived TV show, 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:33.479 right right, basically the same thing, right exactly. Uh. And 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:35.679 one of the big theories is is that trunk and 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.720 this makes a lot of sense to me evolutionarily speaking, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:45.120 is that trunk developed um as compensation. Basically, I can 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.400 reach things higher without having to grow, or I can 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:50.840 get things on the ground without having to crouch down 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.199 and put my head on the ground, which makes me 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.480 very very vulnerable to attack. So I have this big, long, 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.640 extended nose that can go get stuff on the ground 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.280 or up above me, and I can still sort of 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:05.000 be safe. Yes, Okay, So it's a knows that you 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.520 can use to get things with, including water. Apparently it 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.000 holds up to two gallons of water in the trunk, 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:17.399 just in the trunk. Um. But it's also really um dextrous. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.000 I guess it has a hundred thousand muscles in it, 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.679 both fast twitch and slow twitch. So I've read that 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:27.520 an elephant can pull a limb off of a tree 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.520 with its trunk or pluck a blade of grass out 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.479 of the ground like it's it can it can do 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.560 it all. Basically, it can deal cards whatever. But you 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:41.080 shouldn't train an elephant to deal cards. No, just put 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.359 the cards down and walk away. And if it happens, 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.919 it happens. That is that is the motto of dealing 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:53.440 with elephants. UM. And initially, you know, evolution might have said, hey, 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.240 use these great things to drink water out of. But 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:58.440 like we said, and we'll continue to hammer this home. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.080 Elephants are super smart. So they said, hey, I've got 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:07.919 this really long fifth arm that has two hundred thousand 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:10.520 muscles in it, So I can get food, and I 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.600 can bathe myself, and I can pick up dust and 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:15.560 mud and put it all over my body if I 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:17.239 don't want to get sunburned, or if I want to 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:20.080 have a sort of low fi insect repellent, or I 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:22.880 can communicate with my buddy over there with my trunk. Yeah, 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:24.720 there's a lot of stuff they do with their trunk 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:27.160 that we're starting to figure out. There's a group called 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:32.320 Elephant Voices UM and they have an elephant gestures database 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:36.760 based on decades of studying elephants up close. UM and 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:41.040 they have a really complex and intricate um basically a 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.480 sign language that includes more than just their trunk, but 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:45.880 their trunk plays a big role in it too. Yeah. 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:50.760 There's one example on this article, flop trunk on head um, 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:54.560 and that is an elephant basically raising the head vertically 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:58.119 and then flipping their trunk really high up in the 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:00.399 air and letting it PLoP down on their head. That 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:04.760 is a very specific play based gesture, kind of a 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.800 joyful play. Yeah. Like if you see an elephant doing that, 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:11.040 they're having a good time. Yeah. The the Elephant Gestures 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:14.800 Database the names of the different things the gestures sound 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:18.639 like they were all written by Nell Flop trunk on 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:23.080 head at least chicken make so I've got another factor 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:27.040 the podcast for you ready, all right, baby elephants suck 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:32.679 their trunks like human babies suck their thumbs. That amazing. 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:36.359 I mean, forget about it, man, I can't even with 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:41.159 the stuff I know. Uh. And in Tim Burton's going 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.760 to ruin it all with a new Dumbo movie. Oh 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:47.159