Elephants aren’t afraid of mice. When tested, they mostly ignore them, though an elephant can still jump at something small and fast that appears suddenly near its feet.1Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice?2Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice? The tiny creature elephants do avoid is the honeybee, and farmers now use that fear to protect their crops.
What Happens When Elephants Meet Mice
In tests from 1939, zoo elephants consistently did not react when a mouse came into view.3Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice? Even mice that climbed onto an elephant’s trunk were ignored.4Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice? In 2006 a circus trainer held white mice at eye level to one elephant after another, and a reporter who was there said the elephants looked completely unbothered.5Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice?
The one reaction came from a noise. When a mouse ran across a sheet of paper, a few elephants stood up and trumpeted, and the strange rustling sound seems to be what spooked them.6Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice?
These tests are weak evidence either way. They were small and informal, with a handful of captive animals. Nobody compared mice with a toy, a rat, or another small moving object, and it’s unclear whether a mouse seen coming from far off would get a different response than a surprise one. The safe conclusion is “no sign of special fear,” not a precise measurement. All of the tests used zoo or circus elephants, which are used to people and odd objects. Still, wild elephants live alongside rodents every day with no recorded panic.
Why Elephants Can Startle at Small Moving Things
Elephants’ eyesight is poor compared with their smell, hearing, and touch.7Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice? Something small that rushes by without warning can catch them off guard.8Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice? In India, a small trotting dog can send a riding elephant racing away.9Mental Floss. Are Elephants Actually Scared of Mice?
Feet are where a surprise matters most. Elephants are especially sensitive to unexpected movement right in front of their feet, because their sight is weak there and the feet are where they are most vulnerable.10Krabi Elephant Shelter. Why Are Elephants Scared Of Mouse? #1 Shocking Truths Their usual responses to a small creature are curiosity, caution, or surprise, not terror.11Krabi Elephant Shelter. Why Are Elephants Scared Of Mouse? #1 Shocking Truths
A startle is a quick reflex that fades once the animal sees what it was. Fear means avoiding something over and over, even when it’s expected. People jump at a dropped book without being afraid of books, and an elephant’s jump at a mouse fits that same pattern.
Where the Myth Came From
The idea is nearly 2,000 years old. The earliest known mention is by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, around 77 AD.12Wikipedia. Fear of mice and rats A 1601 translation says elephants “cannot abide a mouse or a rat.”13Wikipedia. Fear of mice and rats An old fable told of a mouse climbing inside an elephant’s trunk and driving it crazy.14Encyclopedia.com. Is it True That Elephants Are Afraid of Mice? Then, in the 1600s, an Irish physician claimed elephants feared mice would climb up the trunk and suffocate them.15Encyclopedia.com. Is it True That Elephants Are Afraid of Mice?
The suffocation idea has since been shown to be wrong.16Encyclopedia.com. Is it True That Elephants Are Afraid of Mice? An elephant can blow air out of its trunk with great force, it breathes through its mouth as well as its trunk, and it tolerated mice on its trunk in the tests above.
Even so, the myth is still widely believed and used for laughs.17Encyclopedia.com. Is it True That Elephants Are Afraid of Mice? It shows up in cartoons and children’s books.
Elephants Really Do Fear Bees
The buzz of disturbed African honeybees makes African elephants retreat.18PubMed Central. Bee Threat Elicits Alarm Call in African Elephants They shake their heads and throw dust, actions that may help prevent stings.19PubMed Central. Bee Threat Elicits Alarm Call in African Elephants They also give a distinctive low warning rumble that makes other elephants join the retreat.20PubMed Central. Bee Threat Elicits Alarm Call in African Elephants Elephants that only hear a recording of the bee rumble, with no bees around, still shake their heads and move away faster.21PubMed Central. Bee Threat Elicits Alarm Call in African Elephants
Elephants make one alarm rumble for bees and a different one for local tribesmen.22PubMed Central. African Elephant Alarm Calls Distinguish between Threats from Humans and Bees The call works like a word naming the danger, and only the bee call prompts the head-shaking that knocks off bees.23PubMed Central. African Elephant Alarm Calls Distinguish between Threats from Humans and Bees
Thick skin isn’t thick everywhere. The area around the eyes, the mouth, and the inside of the trunk is thin and sensitive, and bees go for those soft spots. A sting inside the trunk could be especially bad, since elephants rely on it for breathing, smelling, and drinking. Calves have more delicate skin still.
How Beehive Fences Keep Elephants Off Farms
In northern Kenya, beehive fences worked better than thorn-bush barriers at keeping elephants out.24African Journal of Ecology. Beehive fences as effective deterrents for crop-raiding elephants: field trials in northern Kenya In two years, only one bull elephant broke through them.25African Journal of Ecology. Beehive fences as effective deterrents for crop-raiding elephants: field trials in northern Kenya Over nine years near Tsavo East National Park, the fences kept out about 76% of approaching elephants.26Conservation Science and Practice. Impact of drought and development on the effectiveness of beehive fences as elephant deterrents over 9 years in Kenya In peak crop seasons after good rains, they kept out 78% to 86%.27Conservation Science and Practice. Impact of drought and development on the effectiveness of beehive fences as elephant deterrents over 9 years in Kenya
The hives hang from a wire strung between posts along the edge of the field. When an elephant pushes against the wire, the hives swing and the bees are disturbed. The farmer relies on the buzzing elephants already avoid, instead of a solid wall. That only works where the fence is continuous, so gaps at the ends need closing or elephants will walk around.28Conservation Science and Practice. Impact of drought and development on the effectiveness of beehive fences as elephant deterrents over 9 years in Kenya
The fences can cover their costs through honey sales.29African Journal of Ecology. Beehive fence deters crop‐raiding elephants Drought is the weak point: one cut hive occupancy by 75% for three years, hurting both honey and protection.30Conservation Science and Practice. Impact of drought and development on the effectiveness of beehive fences as elephant deterrents over 9 years in Kenya
Bees also beat chillies. Chilli fences, sprays, and smoke were rated effective in only 28% of studies.31PubMed Central. The efficacy of interventions to protect crops from raiding elephants In one region, chilli-grease fences added cost and work but no extra protection.32Oryx. Reducing human–elephant conflict: do chillies help deter elephants from entering crop fields?
Ants That Protect Trees From Elephants
In Kenya, elephants avoid whistling-thorn trees that have ants living on them.33PubMed. Defensive plant-ants stabilize megaherbivore-driven landscape change in an African savanna When the ants are removed, elephants damage those trees badly.34PubMed. Defensive plant-ants stabilize megaherbivore-driven landscape change in an African savanna The ants rush out and attack when the tree is shaken or damaged.35PubMed. Acacia Ants Respond to Plant-Borne Vibrations Caused by Mammalian Browsers They sense the tree vibrating when an animal feeds on it, and the tree repays them with food and shelter.
The trunk tip and the inside of the trunk are soft and sensitive, and ants go straight for such places. Hundreds of biting ants swarming at once can make feeding painful even if each bite is small. The elephant doesn’t need to be badly hurt; it simply moves on to a tree with no ants.
Trees with very few ants face the highest risk of being destroyed by elephants.36PubMed. Enough is enough: the effects of symbiotic ant abundance on herbivory, growth, and reproduction in an African acacia Whistling-thorn cover held steady even where elephant numbers grew.37PubMed. Defensive plant-ants stabilize megaherbivore-driven landscape change in an African savanna
What Big Dangers Elephants Watch For
Elephants judge how dangerous a predator is. Wild Asian elephants retreat silently from tiger growls, since tigers can kill calves.38PubMed Central. Wild Asian elephants distinguish aggressive tiger and leopard growls according to perceived danger They trumpet and grunt at leopard growls and linger to investigate.39PubMed Central. Wild Asian elephants distinguish aggressive tiger and leopard growls according to perceived danger
Well-settled African elephants also bunch together more when they hear three lions than one.40PubMed Central. Social Disruption Impairs Predatory Threat Assessment in African Elephants Elephants whose groups were broken up by people lose this ability.41PubMed Central. Social Disruption Impairs Predatory Threat Assessment in African Elephants
Their senses are built for detecting threats. African elephants have about 2,000 smell genes, more than double a dog’s, which suggests their sense of smell may be among the best of any animal studied.42African Conservation Foundation. How African elephants’ amazing sense of smell could save lives Elephants hear a wide range of sounds, from about 17 to 10,500 vibrations per second, including very low tones people can’t hear.43PubMed. Hearing in the elephant (Elephas maximus)