Indian Elephants Demonstrate Their Steel-Trap Memories
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The fact that elephants never forget and hold a grudge against their abuser(s) when one them is injured has been proven many times, both anecdotally as well as by the results of a formal study of African elephants who reacted negatively to the scent of Masai clothing because the young tribesmen often spear them to demonstrate their bravery. Now a herd of Indian elephants is showing that they are no slouches either, when it comes to revenge!
The ongoing saga began about a week ago, when an elephant was accidently struck and killed by a train near the village of Matari in Eastern India. Though unfortunate, both villagers and railway officials dismissed it as unavoidable and continued on with their lives. But the mighty mammals were not going to allow the humans to get away with the death of their friend that easily.
The day following the accident, 15 elephants appeared at the railway tracks to mourn their friend and have since refused to move, resulting in a complete halt of all train traffic through the region.
In addition, they have been showing their anger toward the local people by destroying structures around the area. So far, the herd has trampled over ten homes and a school.
Desperate to get the situation under control, forestry officials even tried calling in expert elephant chasers to shoo away the giant mammals with the help of fireworks.
But it seems nothing is going to scare these vigilantes who are refusing to budge. Experts believe that they will leave in due time after completing the 'death ceremony' - A little understood ritual that the mammals perform even when an elephant dies from natural causes.
The good news is that their defiance and visible anger has finally compelled officials to ask train drivers to be cautious when passing through rural areas where elephants still roam around freely. Experts estimate that since 2010, 50 elephants throughout the country have met with similar fates thanks to careless railway drivers.
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273 Comments
- 😈almost 10 yearsSeriously, I better speak to them zookeepers.
- 😈almost 10 yearsThat is really sad. I can't believe they do that! Elephants were harmless! I better speak to them zookeepers.
- go go broalmost 10 yearsso sad
madison2almost 10 years1. I would recommend this article to people because it teaches a lot about elephants remember things for a very long time. They won't forget about that elephant that died. 2. I think it's weird that they used fireworks to try and scare the elephants away. Why only fireworks?? 3. The 2 most interesting things are that elephants can remember things that long!!! Also, that the elephants work together to get revenge.
laura1almost 10 yearsI dont understand what exactly the cause was so i do not recomend this it was sad and all but I dont get what is the cause it just gave examples (will con.)- madison2almost 10 yearsWhy would they kill the elephants?? The elephants were harmless!
emmy1almost 10 yearsI thought to recommend this to people who like to help. Why would they kill the elephants for remembering their friend died? I found interesting is that the elephants knew that the elephant had died. Also why would they kill them for having a ceremony.- 😍😘😛almost 10 yearswow
- zach1almost 10 yearsmakes me sad i wanna do some thing about it
Mrs. Tirrellalmost 10 yearstamiqua thinks this story is about getting revenge
