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Elephants are really smart, and also quite emotional. They have been known to grieve, for very long periods of time, upon the death of babies or partners. Most

Elephants are really smart, and also quite emotional. They have been known to grieve, for very long periods of time, upon the death of babies or partners. Most animals get over it, fairly quickly.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
There was even a situation where they sought revenge. There was one person that was allegedly a retired 70-yo poacher, And a herd stomped them to death. Then at the funeral the elephants marched in and threw the corpse around. Then they singled out and destroyed that person's home. The destruction and collateral damage was surprisingly minimal, so this was an extremely targeted attack. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/toi-original/watch-elephant-tramples-woman-to-death-in-odisha-herd-attacks-villagers/videoshow/92206888.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/toi-original/watc... So yeah, elephants truly never forget. And some will make it their life mission to right the wrongs.
- konschubert 2y ago
  It says in the article right there that they also destroyed other houses. I call bs.
  - mrleinad 2y ago
    They probably intercepted communications between those other houses and the target, and determined they should also pay the price.
    - CoastalCoder 2y ago
      If Monkey Hitman can be a TV show, then so can Mafia Elephants.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    I did say "minimal", not "none". If I see a herd of a dozen elephants coming in a neighborhood, I'm sure expecting more than 1 house demolished with malice and 3 others damaged as collateral.
  - Supermancho 2y ago
    It's possible that the signal alerting them to where she lived, had also been present in the other homes (smell, visible trails, decorations, etc). Statistically, this a large number of rare events that coincided.
    - konschubert 2y ago
      A herd of elephants is aggressive. They trample an old woman who can run away as fast. People hide, but for the burial, they come out of their houses, make noise, alerting the elephants. Elephants get aggressive again. People run away. Elephants trample what they left behind. Them, Elephants also trample the village. Seems like a pretty likely scenario? Stuff happens!
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
  There are so many implications to this story that are wild to think about. How did the elephants know generally where this person lived? How did they know specifically which house she lived in? How did they know there was a funeral to crash? I'd speculate that the answer is scouting, and the idea of elephants scouting for other elephants in a planned attack is so damn cool that I just want to assume that must be the answer in the face of knowing that I'm speculating.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
bayindirh 2y ago
I love two stories about elephants. The first one involves a group of elephants who formed a circle around their caretaker's home for a couple of days to grieve when he died. The second one involves an elephant who's shot at his head for poaching, he ran away to where forest rangers camp is, and just laid down to be taken care. The elephant survived. Animals are complex creatures and see, hear and know more than we think. We should stop acting so boneheaded, IMHO.
- CoastalCoder 2y ago
  Those are wonderful stories, thanks for sharing them. I wonder though if generalizing to most/all animals really makes sense here. I get the sense that these kinds of stories are mostly limited to highly social and fairly intelligent animals like elephants, dolphins, and dogs. Maybe other primates as well, although IIUC they're more likely to be spiteful to some people than are e.g. dogs and elephants.
  - PittleyDunkin 2y ago
    I think it's less about a general truth and more about a general capacity for this behavior.
  - lolinder 2y ago
    Add cats to the list as well.
  - bayindirh 2y ago
    I'd happily add birds to the list. I had a budgerigar which lived for ~12 years. She had very personal traits. For example she always sat silent until she saw my eyes open, regardless of the hour. She always knew that I was the one I opened the door and sang very happily, again regardless of the time of the day. She liked to troll me and my parents. She ate the corners of my lecture notes, esp. if I didn't pay attention to her (exam periods), flicked a single CD from the stack, grabbed and threw down, studied how it fell, and chirped at me head sideways, trying to tell "look, I did something". I could write tons and tons of things where she was very aware of my emotions and responded to it, or communicated with my parents in their own way. So, I don't think it's limited only to "more complex" animals like dolphins, dogs, and elephants. Cats and birds (oh, look at cockatoos, crows magpies, etc.) are also in that group as well. Cockatoos raid trash bins and find ways to open even the blocked ones if their strength allows. Lastly, here's a parrot which trolls its owner and laughs about what it did! Oh boy, it's aware of what it did [0]. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNSaQCDl8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNSaQCDl8E
gus_massa 2y ago
Rats have like 6 babies every other month. Elephants need like 2 years for a new baby. You get much more attached to offspring when they take a long time and they survive for a few tens of years instead of a few months. Feelings get synchronized with the r/K strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory

Elephants are really smart, and also quite emotional. They have been known to grieve, for very long periods of time, upon the death of babies or partners. Most animals get over it, fairly quickly.

johnnyanmac 2y ago

There was even a situation where they sought revenge. There was one person that was allegedly a retired 70-yo poacher, And a herd stomped them to death. Then at the funeral the elephants marched in and threw the corpse around. Then they singled out and destroyed that person's home. The destruction and collateral damage was surprisingly minimal, so this was an extremely targeted attack. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/toi-original/watch-elephant-tramples-woman-to-death-in-odisha-herd-attacks-villagers/videoshow/92206888.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/toi-original/watc... So yeah, elephants truly never forget. And some will make it their life mission to right the wrongs.

konschubert 2y ago
It says in the article right there that they also destroyed other houses. I call bs.
- mrleinad 2y ago
  They probably intercepted communications between those other houses and the target, and determined they should also pay the price.
  - CoastalCoder 2y ago
    If Monkey Hitman can be a TV show, then so can Mafia Elephants.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  I did say "minimal", not "none". If I see a herd of a dozen elephants coming in a neighborhood, I'm sure expecting more than 1 house demolished with malice and 3 others damaged as collateral.
- Supermancho 2y ago
  It's possible that the signal alerting them to where she lived, had also been present in the other homes (smell, visible trails, decorations, etc). Statistically, this a large number of rare events that coincided.
  - konschubert 2y ago
    A herd of elephants is aggressive. They trample an old woman who can run away as fast. People hide, but for the burial, they come out of their houses, make noise, alerting the elephants. Elephants get aggressive again. People run away. Elephants trample what they left behind. Them, Elephants also trample the village. Seems like a pretty likely scenario? Stuff happens!
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
There are so many implications to this story that are wild to think about. How did the elephants know generally where this person lived? How did they know specifically which house she lived in? How did they know there was a funeral to crash? I'd speculate that the answer is scouting, and the idea of elephants scouting for other elephants in a planned attack is so damn cool that I just want to assume that must be the answer in the face of knowing that I'm speculating.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

bayindirh 2y ago

I love two stories about elephants. The first one involves a group of elephants who formed a circle around their caretaker's home for a couple of days to grieve when he died. The second one involves an elephant who's shot at his head for poaching, he ran away to where forest rangers camp is, and just laid down to be taken care. The elephant survived. Animals are complex creatures and see, hear and know more than we think. We should stop acting so boneheaded, IMHO.

CoastalCoder 2y ago
Those are wonderful stories, thanks for sharing them. I wonder though if generalizing to most/all animals really makes sense here. I get the sense that these kinds of stories are mostly limited to highly social and fairly intelligent animals like elephants, dolphins, and dogs. Maybe other primates as well, although IIUC they're more likely to be spiteful to some people than are e.g. dogs and elephants.
- PittleyDunkin 2y ago
  I think it's less about a general truth and more about a general capacity for this behavior.
- lolinder 2y ago
  Add cats to the list as well.
- bayindirh 2y ago
  I'd happily add birds to the list. I had a budgerigar which lived for ~12 years. She had very personal traits. For example she always sat silent until she saw my eyes open, regardless of the hour. She always knew that I was the one I opened the door and sang very happily, again regardless of the time of the day. She liked to troll me and my parents. She ate the corners of my lecture notes, esp. if I didn't pay attention to her (exam periods), flicked a single CD from the stack, grabbed and threw down, studied how it fell, and chirped at me head sideways, trying to tell "look, I did something". I could write tons and tons of things where she was very aware of my emotions and responded to it, or communicated with my parents in their own way. So, I don't think it's limited only to "more complex" animals like dolphins, dogs, and elephants. Cats and birds (oh, look at cockatoos, crows magpies, etc.) are also in that group as well. Cockatoos raid trash bins and find ways to open even the blocked ones if their strength allows. Lastly, here's a parrot which trolls its owner and laughs about what it did! Oh boy, it's aware of what it did [0]. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNSaQCDl8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNSaQCDl8E

gus_massa 2y ago

Rats have like 6 babies every other month. Elephants need like 2 years for a new baby. You get much more attached to offspring when they take a long time and they survive for a few tens of years instead of a few months. Feelings get synchronized with the r/K strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory