r/interestingasfuck • u/rco888 • Jun 05 '23
An elephant in the room (almost)
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@cliffafrica
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u/solareclipse999 Jun 05 '23
The big elephant is just a gentle kid. Left quietly when told to and closed the door behind him.
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u/rickyhatesspam Jun 05 '23
True about the elephant being gentle. If the elephant wanted to be inside the room, it would damn well be inside. The strength an elephant has is awe-inspiring.
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u/Drostan_S Jun 05 '23
[In India,] an elephant was following a truck and, upon command, was pulling logs out of it to place in predug holes in preparation for a ceremony. The elephant continued to follow his master’s commands until they reached one hole where the elephant would not lower the log into the hole but held it in mid-air above the hole. When the mahout [elephant driver] approached the hole to investigate, he found a dog sleeping at the bottom; only after chasing the dog away would the elephant lower the post into the hole. (3, p. 137)
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u/Cheese_Bits Jun 05 '23 edited Jun 05 '23
And that elephant was horribly abused to become that tame.
Edit: Indian nationalists and bots beyond this point.
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u/Glubglubguppy Jun 05 '23
Maybe, but not necessarily. It's like training a horse to help with tasks--horses aren't quite domesticated, and they very well can kill you in a fit of pique, but they can still figure out "I get treats if I do the thing" and then choose to consistently do the thing. Horses can also be horribly abused, but that's not a requirement for training.
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u/P_A_I_M_O_N Jun 05 '23
Guys, horses are entirely domesticated. Your concept of horse does not have a wild counterpart anymore, that’s how long we’ve been domesticating them. Domesticated doesn’t mean an animal does whatever we want it to, when we want it to, it just means we’ve altered the species through breeding into a new species that suits a societal need we have.
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u/rothrolan Jun 05 '23
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przewalski%27s_horse
You have a point in that there are many feral horse herds running around the US and Australia that many may confuse as "wild", but there are still entirely wild horses in existence. Although only about 2,000 are left in the world, and all from the breed in the link above.
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u/fezzuk Jun 05 '23
Not really they are very intelligent animals.
There is certainly abuse in certain cases just like there is in animal training, but they are more intelligent than oxes or horses or even dogs and we train and use them for work all the time.
This is a very western mindset.
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u/Regalia_BanshEe Jun 06 '23
Not western.. I am from India, Kerala to be specific where Elephants are very popular.. the training process of an elephant involves breaking it's mind .. it's called elephant crushing.. they are confined to a very small cage where they can barely move.. and are tortured in such a way to be domesticated and used in mills or for temple processions..
There is a former elephant training centre near my home.. currently it's a rehabilitation centre because such type of cruel training is banned ..
Thankfully govt has banned capturing and training ..
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u/no-mad Jun 06 '23
Elephant
torturerstrainers: The government is destroying our traditions and way of life.62
u/jasonin951 Jun 05 '23
Could probably pickup that woman with its trunk too.
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u/dbelliepop87 Jun 05 '23
There was that video not long ago of the guy that was keeping one chained up. He came to feed it a pumpkin, but it knocked him down w its trunk, then picked him up and slammed him on the ground a few times before stomping on his body and finally his head. Elephants are absolutely fucking brutal. We are lucky any of them are gentle with humans, considering how we've terrorized them for as long as we've existed.
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u/Alt_dimension_visitr Jun 06 '23
I mean, if he was keeping the elephant chained up, I'm ok with this outcome.
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u/HIMP_Dahak_172291 Jun 05 '23
Seen a video of one tossing someone with a trunk-punch. Also see a video of one hoisting a nile croc out of the water when it made its last mistake biting the elephant's trunk. Squish. They can definitely pick you up with no problem.
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u/Silverback40 Jun 05 '23
Do you have a link for the crushed croc?
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u/LillianVJ Jun 05 '23
I don't have the link, but I've seen that clip before, I don't know for sure if the croc did actually get stomped as it was unclear in the video, essentially the elephant is drinking and the croc (fully underwater) grabs the trunk and then proceeds to get hauled out of the water entirely and slammed back down as the elephant charges into the water, definitely attempted to stomp the guts out of the croc but it's unclear if that actually happened
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u/ukezi Jun 05 '23
They can pickup tree trunks. Over 350 kg is totally normal for them.
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u/RecalcitrantBeetroot Jun 05 '23
Elephants can lift up to 700lbs with their trunks. There's no probably about it.
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u/SchnoodleDoodleDo Jun 05 '23
’True about the elephant being gentle. If the elephant wanted to be inside the room, it would damn well be inside.’
Good morning, friend humans - i bid you HELLO!
I stand by your door - in n out, watch you go
So courteous, me, as i wait here outside
(my elephant STRENGTH, though, cannot be denied)
a BuLL in a China Store ~ that is not Me!
for I am as gentle as gentle can be
I’ll do what I want to, n that you can bet
for I am the ELEPHANT
Never Forget!
❤️
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u/xpkranger Jun 05 '23 edited Jun 05 '23
Wow 14 minutes old!!!! So fresh Schnoodle!
Edit: If there’s one wholesome thing about Reddit I’m going to miss if/when Reddit denies the API, it’s the random Schnoodles. Sigh.
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u/Everyones_Fan_Boy Jun 05 '23
People give me weird looks when I say horses are scary.
I love horses.
The average horse could absolutely murder me.
I feel the same about elephants.
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u/Itchy_Chef_9672 Jun 05 '23
I feel the same about cars.
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u/Everyones_Fan_Boy Jun 05 '23
The fact that cars are everywhere and we let teenagers operate them? Jesus, what a bad idea.
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u/drawb Jun 05 '23 edited Jun 05 '23
Maybe he could destroy some things if he wanted, but you wouldn't be talking of a room (where he is in) anymore.
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u/ParticularAnxious929 Jun 05 '23
Is this 2838 Roper Lane?
- No. This is 2836 Roper Lane.
My bad... my bad.
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Jun 05 '23
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u/GrunthosArmpit42 Jun 05 '23
*it allowed the door to close itself. I can play this game too. ;p /jk
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u/tukekairo Jun 05 '23
I think we need to talk about the elephant
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u/ListenItWillHear Jun 05 '23
Im trying not to think about it
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Jun 05 '23
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u/wallowsfan289 Jun 05 '23
TIL that an elephant may be plotting my murder
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u/TheBlairwitchy Jun 05 '23
It was more of a revenge iirc.
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u/Electic_Supersony Jun 05 '23
Because elephants never forget.
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u/barofa Jun 05 '23
Now I'm worried and starting to think about my whole life if I ever mistreated an elephant
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u/Zestyclose-Note1304 Jun 05 '23
I’ve never met one, but now I’m worried too.
At least, I don’t remember meeting one…
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u/barofa Jun 05 '23
That's what I'm saying. I've seen some but they were in the zoo.
But they are smart enough to understand that I had nothing to do with that, I was just a child. If you are reading that, please believe me, Mr Elephant
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u/wallowsfan289 Jun 05 '23
I may or may not be the antagonist in an elephant’s story
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u/TheBlairwitchy Jun 05 '23
Better to not be one😅
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u/Spinningwoman Jun 05 '23
Don’t annoy crows either. They do revenge too.
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u/CarissaSkyWarrior Jun 05 '23
Yeah, pissing off a bunch of crows will result in a murder.
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u/richter1977 Jun 05 '23
They do multi generational revenge. They teach their kids, and their kids teach their kids.
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u/PoeReader Jun 05 '23
Not only that, they have the ability to pass down the knowledge about the vengeance to their young so you might be inviting generations of crow vengeance!
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u/DanniPopp Jun 05 '23
This was one of the funniest days on the internet. Like that elephant was PISSED. She was throwing rocks at the elephants baby.
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u/PseudoTaken Jun 05 '23
According to the article:
We also encountered social media users who said that the woman threw stones at the elephant as poachers stole its baby. However, not a single credible news source has published this precise fact.
So maybe she just got unlucky and this elephant was just crazy
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u/DanniPopp Jun 05 '23
Hmm..I’ve deactivated everything but I may be able to find it online. I didn’t get the info from a comments section but an article. I’ll see if I can find it bc I know I posted it somewhere.
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u/PNW4theWin Jun 05 '23
From everything I've read about elephants, I'm more inclined to believe this woman did something egregious to this elephant (or the elephant's baby). Given an elephant's intelligence, memory, and emotional intelligence, it's not a stretch to think this woman fucked around and found out.
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u/Aegi Jun 05 '23
It's also not a stretch to think it was the case of mistaken identity since even humans mistake other humans and we know it's easier for members of each other's species to differentiate, so maybe there was a woman that looked similar that was actually the one that was an asshole to that elephant?
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u/MinneapolisKing25 Jun 05 '23
Wow!? Really?! You know what, you know what!! I just can’t! Really?! Wooooooow
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u/Virtual_Conference71 Jun 05 '23
No one can defend against that lvl 99 granny voice, not even elephants.
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u/malepitt Jun 05 '23
This is why screen doors have locks. To keep elephants out.
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u/Herrgul Jun 05 '23
I always lock my door here in Scandinavia and no elephants have been able to enter so this must be true
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u/ShwiftyCardinal Jun 05 '23
When my dog opens my unlocked screen door, I used to think it was because he wanted to play outside, but obviously he was trying to warn me of those nosy Sonoran Desert elephants
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u/mesenanch Jun 05 '23
This could be a satirical example of increasingly common, contemporary, fallacious thinking
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u/threequartertoupee Jun 05 '23
'Well I don't see any tigers around here'
'Lisa, I'd like to buy your
rocklocked screen door'4
u/MRich92 Jun 05 '23
Screen doors aren't commonplace for UK homes. It's only a matter of time before the elephants catch on to this. I live in a constant state of fear.
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u/Salmonman4 Jun 05 '23
Hello, do you have the time to talk about Lord Ganesha?
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u/NecessaryEg Jun 05 '23
"Now, Cletus, go home."
Can we talk about how the elephant's name is Cletus. That's the best name I've ever heard for an elephant.
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u/hellothere42069 Jun 05 '23
To be fair, have you heard more than a dozen names for elephants?
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u/NecessaryEg Jun 05 '23
I think so! Let me see!
-Dumbo
-Babar
-Colonel Hathi
-Jumbo
-Horton
-Tantor
-Mary
-Snuffleupagus
-Cletus
Nope. Only 8.
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u/no_talent_ass_clown Jun 05 '23
I think Mr Snuffleupagus is a mammoth, no?
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u/NecessaryEg Jun 05 '23
Oh shit, maybe.
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u/codymreese Jun 05 '23
And he was imaginary for a bit.
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u/Efficient-Echidna-30 Jun 05 '23
Elmo sorry big bird. Elmo just figured you were schizophrenic
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u/hellothere42069 Jun 05 '23 edited Jun 05 '23
I’ll count it.
Edit: but I’m on the fence about Mary.
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u/duaneap Jun 05 '23
I’ll be honest, I kind of expect them to have African names.
I expect slack jawed yokels when I hear Cletus.
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u/Gregorys_girl Jun 05 '23
Think she calls him lettuce... Which I'd imagine he eats a fuck ton of
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u/ReluctantAvenger Jun 05 '23
Definitely. That's "lettuce" pronounced with a South African accent.
Source: am South African
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u/acyushi Jun 05 '23
Aw man. I thought she was calling it “Glitters.” Still good.
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u/undercover-racist Jun 05 '23
Some folk'll never eat a skunk but then again some folk'll! Like Cletus the slack-jawed yokel!
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u/Some_Acadia_1630 Jun 05 '23
It seems he was just feeling curious, he also noticed he could not fit through the door and decided to move along. Seems like a pretty amicable interaction to me.
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u/ChaoticGoku Jun 05 '23
and he closed the door
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u/Some_Acadia_1630 Jun 05 '23
Elephants are actually very close to us In terms of intelligence. What we sometimes fail to understand is they still think like Elephants. Same goes for crows, parrots, apes, dolphins etc.
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u/ChaoticGoku Jun 05 '23
I’m well aware. Unfortunately, I found out as kid I’m highly allergic to Elephants and horses (face swells). I have local crows that hang about my neighborhood. I plan on befriending them this summer. Haven’t seen them in my patio area since the tree removal though.
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u/Some_Acadia_1630 Jun 05 '23
I have a personal bias because my family name literally means "Crow". So I'll just say it's a long but rewarding experience, once they learn to trust you they'll tell their friends about you as well. I read about a case where they basically saved an old dude's life - The guy had been feeding and befriending them, and then he had a heart attack on his yard. His neighbours started to wonder about the big flock of crows making an almighty racket on and around his yard and went to check and that saved his life. Crows can be surprisingly friendly, and there are cases where they start to bring you gifts if you feed them.
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u/scaylos1 Jun 05 '23
Everyone keeps saying that but that's clearly a self-closing screen door.
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u/ChaoticGoku Jun 05 '23
He also backed away slowly and carefully. I just moved the video slider carefully to go back and check
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u/VLHACS Jun 05 '23
Really felt like he heard the disapproving tone from the woman and was like "sorry my bad" and left
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u/SixToesLeftFoot Jun 05 '23
And who says elephants are rude. That guy shut the door behind him. My goddam kids can’t even figure that one little trick out.
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u/SirLoopy007 Jun 05 '23
A village we visited in Kenya had these simple 2 foot (approx half meter) high fences around everything. I asked about them, and was told it was to protect the houses from the elephants. It wasn't that the elephants would purposely cause trouble, but they were known for accidentally knocking over walls while being inquisitive.
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Jun 05 '23
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u/thehelldoesthatmean Jun 05 '23
Wild elephants can be really fucking dangerous and aggressive towards people if they get too close despite people thinking about them as friendly. So, kinda?
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u/dkarlovi Jun 05 '23
if they get too close
Well yeah, who likes some weird no-tusk biped to be nosing around them.
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u/hellothere42069 Jun 05 '23
Someone else got downvoted for pointing out the door is on a spring and mostly closed itself. But here I am pointing it out again. But I am fun a parties.
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u/LucasPisaCielo Jun 05 '23
I guess almost everyone noticed that. But it's more fun to think the elephant as polite and well mannered.
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u/McMarbles Jun 05 '23
Humans are in the era when we judge and rule things by emotion instead of reason.
Still, I like the emotion side better. Polite elephants make me happy to be alive. Sue me.
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u/n3m37h Jun 05 '23
Can I talk to you about auto insurance?
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u/spotspam Jun 05 '23
Someone is used to getting treats
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u/BlocksWithFace Jun 05 '23
Maybe it's me, but he had kind of an "aww, struck out" look when he didn't get anything and backed away.
I would have given him a treat.
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u/spotspam Jun 06 '23
I’ve loved every elephant I’ve met. They are always curious of ppl. They are such paced and intelligent beings. Worthy of respect. I Hate seeing them in circuses, tied up, pacing out of nervousness. It’s wrong.
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u/99titan Jun 05 '23
Do you want elephants? Because that’s how you get elephants.
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u/PinkTalkingDead Jun 05 '23
I want elephants!! Just in a peaceful neighborly way like this interaction tho 🥰
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u/Creeperslayer17 Jun 05 '23
Fun fact: If you look closely around the middle of the screen. More towards the door you can see the head of an elephant
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u/Scriboergosum Jun 05 '23
Have you ever had a pet that had a little safe spot hidden away, like a cave or someplace else you couldn't get to and you'd wish you were small enough to join your little buddy in there to hang out and cuddle?
I bet that's how that elephant feels. Just wants to join the humans in their little human cave, but he can't fit!
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u/ParamedicOld731 Jun 05 '23
"Anyway...I better get going Barb. Thanks for the peanuts. Tell your mom I says hi"
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u/Weird_Muffin_1445 Jun 05 '23
Is anyone going to address this or just continue to ignore it?
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u/Vegetable-Length-823 Jun 05 '23
So do they stop by during seasonal migration? Like that one friend that only randomly shows up 2x a year
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u/Innerglow33 Jun 05 '23
I'd be in heaven if that happened to me! I'd make my doors bigger so he could roam the house. He's so smart he didn't let the screen door slam!
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u/UmpireHappy8162 Jun 05 '23
Dumb question but are they dangerous? I feel like that woman is a bit too close.
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u/ReluctantAvenger Jun 05 '23
This one's quite young and quite clearly familiar with these humans, so not very dangerous unless startled.
Fun fact: Africans elephants are born six feet tall and weighing 220 pounds (100 kg).
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u/EnochSoames311 Jun 05 '23
“I want an elephant!”
“You had one. His name was Stampy! You loved him..."
“Oh yeah...”
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u/GoodmanSimon Jun 05 '23
South Africa... They can either smell water or citrus.
If he really wanted to he would have smashed the wall.
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u/ThresholdSeven Jun 05 '23
I hand sculpted a little elephant out of polymer clay. It now sits on a window sill in my girlfriend's house because she likes it and wanted to display it. I'm waiting for the perfect moment to say with complete seriousness, "Don't you think it's time we talk about the elephant in the room?" and just say "you know what" when she asks "what are you talking about?" and just never say anything except "you know what I'm talking about".
It's been chilling in the kitchen sink window for years so I'm hoping she's become so accustomed to it that she won't get the dad joke immediately and I can drag it out for maximum groan effect.
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u/Due_Platypus_3913 Jun 05 '23
“Have you accepted Ganesha as your personal savior?No?How about Babaar?No?Well,have a nice day!”
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u/PsamantheSands Jun 05 '23
How can they not go outside and play with the elephant????
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u/Ssider69 Jun 05 '23
"would you like a free roof and gutter inspection? We're offering six months free financing and....no?....well...ok....have a nice day!"
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u/IntrovertMoTown1 Jun 05 '23
Excuse me ma'am. Have you heard about our lord and savior Trunkasaurus Christ?
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u/Lucasbasques Jun 05 '23
Elephants are like vampires, they can only enter the house if they're invited
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u/Fantastic_Stuff_7917 Jun 05 '23
Somebody’s been feeding him peanuts from their kitchen. He’s obviously used to going putting his trunk in peoples kitchens and getting food.
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u/aphelionprime Jun 05 '23
Ma!
There's a fuckin' elephant at the door!
Call the fuckin' cops!
(Mike Rappaport, probably)
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