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Elephant 'smoking' footage baffles experts
- matte_black 9y agoCouldn’t this behavior just be replicated again by giving an elephant some kind of elephant cigarette and seeing what it does?
- mc32 9y agoAs far as I could tell, this wasn't about getting stimulated by the release/ingestion of chemicals but rather involved zoopharmacognosy, given the "smoke" was produced by expelling a cloud of ash. I.e. it wasn't trying to get high for the sake of getting high but rather trying to counteract the effects of pathogens.
- mar77i 9y agoJust because the pathogens that make humans want to get high aren't always merely chemical in nature, doesn't mean they're not pathogens either.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- flamtap 9y agoI wonder if perhaps the elephant simply finds the outburst of smoke entertaining?
- jrimbault 9y agoI know at least some humans around me began smoking because they like the taste and, particularly, the smoke swirl.
- m_fayer 9y agoRight on. From watching my pets, I know that when they're healthy, happy, and bored - they will start doing lots of random shit "for the hell of it." Same applies to humans, and often to apex predators. Perhaps we're too deep in our bubbles of overwork and self-actualization to remember the entire concept of free time and doing random shit just because.
- gingernaut 9y agoVery interesting. I think it's unlikely that we are the only species that ingests materials/chemicals that make us feel good, aside from providing any nutritional value.
- sdrothrock 9y agohttp://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2011/10/animals-getting-high-10-common-drunks/ http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2011/...
- Monk_NT 9y agoSome bird species eat fermented berries to get drunk. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141203-drunk-birds-animals-science-winter-global-warming/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141203-drun...
- lostlogin 9y agoNative wood pigeons, Kereru, do this in New Zealand. Stumbling on a drunk one is always memorable.
- rectangletangle 9y agoAnimal drunkenness is a well documented phenomena. Many species of monkeys and apes will "recreationally drink," given the opportunity. Interestingly enough, the rate of "alcoholism" among many simians is inline with that of humans. (skip to 0:55) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIDJ-sTuoO8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIDJ-sTuoO8
- thinkloop 9y agoEvery kind of animal getting wasted together in the same area, why don't we have a camera permanently pointed at this spot
- Valmar 9y agoJaguars in the Amazon rainforest are known to consume leaves of the Caapi vine to get high, because it seems to improves their ability to hunt effectively. The Caapi vine is also the main ingredient in the psychedelic Ayahuasca brew drunk by the Amazonian shamans.
- tbabb 9y agoLooks like it's playing. Reminds me of dolphin air rings[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT-fctr32pE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT-fctr32pE
- hbarka 9y agoI think some are too eager to project human vice and behavior onto an animal. It makes for a good story and we’re willing to delude ourselves, even professional observers. The article even used the word “puffing” and “smoking”—there was neither. It was clearly blowing the dust out before ingesting the bituminous material. If it had been liquid it was blowing away we’d read that it was having a swig and a swill of spirits. All it needs is a smoking jacket. The authors are the ones smoking something.
- elefanten 9y agoYeah, I agree with this interpretation. They held back and put it in quotes the first time they wrote it. But the second time they simply referred to it as "blowing out a gust of smoke." It's dust and ash, not smoke.
- extralego 9y agoI think you’ve identified the smoking elephant in the room.
- kbutler 9y agoLink bait was bait?
- tim_hutton 9y agoIt's just a cloud of dust? From the thing that the elephant picked up off the dusty ground?
- randomerr 9y agoDust clouds are usually an off-color from the decay of organic matter or crushed rock. Since this is in a forest setting I would discount that it is crushed rock. If the item was on fire I would think the elephant would spit it out. My guess is mushroom spores or a chemical reaction with something growing there. No matter what the elephant sure thought it was tasty.
- konart 9y agoI'm pretty sure it's just ash from a campfire or something. It's often used agains some parasites in the garden.
- thawkins 9y agoIt's likely it's using the ash or charcoal to self-treat a stomach problem, animals are known to ingest non food substances to clear problems, charcoal, chalk, dogs eat grass when suffering from gastric problems.
- StavrosK 9y agoWouldn't the elephants say the same when watching a human smoking? Besides, swallowing charcoal and inhaling charcoal are completely different, I don't know how much good the latter would do for the stomach.
- thawkins 9y agoRemember the elephants trunk is it's hand, not just it's nose, it's clearly putting something into its mouth after blowing off the ASH dust. http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/health/stomach-pain-relieve-gas-indigestion-and-belly-bloat-with-activated-charcoal/ http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/health/stomach-pain-rel...
- StavrosK 9y agoActually yes, this makes more sense.
- haihaibye 9y ago"Smoking I find the most ridiculous of all the varieties of human behavior and practically the only one that is entirely against nature. Can you imagine a cow or any animal taking a mouthful of smoldering straw then breathing in the smoke and blowing it out through its nostrils?" - Ian Flemming, Goldfinger.
- Valmar 9y ago> "entirely against nature" I guess I find his statement ridiculous, because it seems quite natural for some to enjoy smoking, and others to not. It is therefore definitely not "entirely against nature". It's merely that what happens in reality didn't correlate with his beliefs. Smoking tobacco was a routine cultural thing in the Americas before the Europeans came along.
- Kenji 9y agoFootage of an Asian elephant “smoking” in a forest in southern India has baffled wildlife experts, who say the behaviour has never before been observed. I wonder how many experts would be baffled simply by following around and video taping one single human, finding behaviour "never before observed".
- lovelearning 9y agoI don't see much value in trying to use logical speculation to generalize such behaviors to an entire species. Anybody who has observed animals and pets will have noticed how each and every animal has its own personality, likes, dislikes and peculiarities. Just like people, who, despite our airs, are just another species. Some of my pets eat people food which my other pets don't even look at. Some of them play with balls, while others don't. On YouTube, I follow a cool guy who has a pure vegetarian pet cat getting along with many normal cats. This particular elephant might have been simply curious about the smoke or might have been playing with it for the heck of it. They are individual peculiarities and I don't think any conclusion can be drawn about the entire species from them.
- nitrogen 9y ago...a pure vegetarian pet cat... How does the cat obtain whatever missing nutrients cause most cats to be obligate carnivores?
- semi-extrinsic 9y agoProbably eats mice/birds/etc. or the food of other cats when the owner isn't looking.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoIt seems plausible that those nutrients might be found in certain plants, and could be identified and concentrated. I wouldn't risk it with my cats, but plenty of people do feed their cats veggie kibble and I haven't heard of them dying of malnutrition in droves.
- ben_w 9y agoIIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. Although it can be found in seaweed, or synthesised in a lab, cats and water makes me think this is unlikely in nature. (That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/
- ThoAppelsin 9y agoAccording to this video [0], it is not something of carbon that the elephant puffs, but a "puffball mushroom". I was very eager to believe in his words when I watched that yesterday. It was because that the day before, I had watched another video [1] of from that channel featuring something really similar that he calls "earth star fungi" this time, at 1:35. Leaving his words aside, it also is much more believable to me that an elephant eats a puffing mushroom than charcoal. [0] https://youtu.be/V0Lzym6XjoQ https://youtu.be/V0Lzym6XjoQ [1] https://youtu.be/nyrIKtFZx3s?t=95 https://youtu.be/nyrIKtFZx3s?t=95
- mirimir 9y agoThat makes sense. Charcoal hot enough to make that much smoke would burn. Even an elephant. And to do it three times, that's very unlikely.
- kbutler 9y agoBased on the amount of dust when the human hand pinches the puffball, the elephant would require a /huge/ puffball mushroom to produce that much dust (ash).
- jrlocke 9y agoThis was my first thought as well. It appears the elephant isn't sucking as much as chewing.
- kephas 9y agoWhy jumping to radical conclusions like smoking? To me it looks like he's just having a vape.
- singularity2001 9y agospeculation: disinfecting mouth?
- zabil 9y agoI live nearby this national park and this time of the year forest fires create a lot of ash.
- matt_the_bass 9y agoMy dog will pick out bits of charcole from our burning fireplace. She appears to love the taste and we have to actively keep her away when the fire is low. We like to say that “she likes her bbq chips”
- jlebrech 9y agoI just think the elephant is just having fun. (i'm not an expert)
- truculation 9y agoYes it could well be. And I for one don't set much store by 'experts', especially where smoke is concerned: https://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/doctors-used-to-literally-blow-smoke-up-your-ass-with-18th-century-medical-treatment/ https://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/doctors-used-to-literally-b...
- jnamaya 9y agoHave you ever seen a bat blowing up smoke? You'll find videos on YouTube from people giving bats a smoke, but I once saw a bat smoking for real, he intentionally looked for the cigarette to have another puff, it was hilarious!
- neonnoodle 9y agoUhhh he clearly wanted to look cool.
- maxerickson 9y agoIf animal milk is vegetarian then it doesn't mean anything.
- Izkata 9y agoYou may have vegetarian and vegan confused. Milk is vegetarian, but not vegan.
- maxerickson 9y agoNo, I'm not confused I'm being tiresome about it. "I'm a vegetarian, pass the salmon."
- udp 9y agoA vegetarian diet has never included fish. You’re thinking of pescatarianism.
- maxerickson 9y agoNo, we're descriptivists in this thread and plenty of people that are vegetarians eat fish and eggs.
- udp 9y agoI think everyone is in agreement about what "vegetarian" means apart from you. Vegetarians don't eat the flesh of animals, and it's always been like that. Eggs and milk are animal products, not the flesh of animals - so vegetarians can still eat them. Vegans don't eat animal products at all, which rules out eggs and milk. Pescatarians eat fish, but they aren't vegetarians. So if N is the number of distinct foods you can eat, N(pescatarians) > N(vegetarians) > N(vegans). Is there anything in particular about this that you find difficult to understand? I can model it as an ontology for you, perhaps?
- maxerickson 9y ago
- Sommer 9y agoFeels like they should have titled it "One Pachyderm a Day"
- noetic_techy 9y ago"smoking" = blowing dry dirt from its mouth. I'm surprised guardian would use such a click-bate title. I was hoping to see actual fire and smoke. They are intelligent creatures. Probably just playing around.