Why do people think a mouse would scurry up inside an elephant trunk ?

While mice are good at squeezing into tight spaces I have a hard time beliving they would voulentary go anywhere near the facial region of a much larger and possibly predatory animal.
Especially if that animal is alive and wiggling around like a snake.

Atleast I have never heard of mice kamikaze launching themselves down the throat of a snake to try and suffocate it or in search of food.

I think the elephant was cautios, possibly slightly startled of the sudden apperance of an unfamilliar thing. But it didnt seem that afraid of it.
Dung rolling around wouldnt be too unfamilliar to the elephant but a mouse possibly would be
(regardless of colour) because mice tend to run and hide from larger animals. So the elephant might never have laid eyes on one before.

I strongly suspect a brown field mouse having the same effect, also a small wind up toy robot or whatever small moving item that would be strange to the elephant.

There is also a difference between african elephants and asian ones, with the african ones being much more territorial and hostile.
I could easily imagine if the mouse was to be percived as some kind of threat or compeditor for food the elephant would have killed the mouse without any "kindness" or remorse.
But a mouse doesnt exactly fit into those standards to an elephant so why would it bother.

Anyway...I'm not a specialist on elephants or mice either. But thats what I think

We liked the episode and would love to see a revisit with a brown mouse. However we do have one question...

When the mouse went into one of the guys' mouth, was it before or after it was in the dung?

Some problems with the elephant/mice myth testing:
1) They used an albino mouse/rate--there are no white rats in the wild. They are only found in the lab, completely domesticated to the point of having albinism. They should have used a black or grey mouse.
2) They didn't test if the elephant was just startled that there was something under the rock/dung, i.e. putting a napkin (the same color as the mouse/rat), or another small animal.
I'd like to see this done again.

The color of the mouse may have startled the elephant. The myth needs to be repeated with a grey field mouse for the mouse part and a white styrofoam cup for the color. Then we will be better able to see what startled the elephant.

Next time try putting other types of small animals under the dung, and see how they react to that. Just using a white white lab mouse really didn't prove the myth was true to me.

Yeah, I didn't really like how they tested this myth (are elephants afraid of mice). The MB only used white mice, which, when you think about it, aren't common in nature (the color). Brown, black and maybe reddish-brown mice should have been used to test if it was the color that startled the elephants into shying. If I was used to browns and yellows with some green shrubbery thrown in, I think I'd be a little wary of some white thing on the ground. Elephants are smart and inquisitive, and I think they have enough smarts to realise that, hey, wait, that thing doesn't belong here.

Elephants are not afraid of mice. I happen to be an animal expert, and know this to be true. The mouse used was not the color that elephants, or any other wild animal are used to. There is a reason why albino or white animals are rare in the wild. White stands out like a "sore thumb" in the grasses and bushes. Animals with no pigment, or white, are easy targets and will be picked off quickly. The elephants where not afraid of the mouse, they where startled by the color of the mouse. If a human came across an insect or animal that was never seen before, they too would give it a wide berth for fear of possible harm. Think about how many small rodents, and rodent like animals elephants come close to stepping on every day. They are all brown, and variations of brown and black. To all of a sudden see a white one in their path was startling. This needs to be retested due to error on the part of Jammie and Adam. To err is human.

i'm pretty sure someone's already mentioned this, but why didn't they use a different colored mouse? a white mouse, particularly in that setting, would be easy to see and no doubt shock someone or some animal. why didnt they use a brown mouse or something?

There are a couple things that need to be considered.

1) The colour of the mouse is irrelevant when you consider the Myth. Is it possible to startle/scare an elephant with a mouse? It's definitely plausible. The colour of the mouse used in this case, is still part of it being a mouse. There was nothing wrong with the test that was done. Albino mouse or not. It was still an accurate test.

2) The fact that they said 'Plausible' merely implies that it's not understood as to why the Elephant avoided the mouse, that is why it was given 'plausible'.

3) Did it leave more to be questioned? Sure it did. Perhaps it was the colour of the mouse that caused it. That could be tested without actually putting a mouse that isn't so easily spotted at risk, by just using a fake mouse. If moving 'white' is what truly caused the elephant to avoid the mouse, then a stringed up fake white mouse should have the same affect.

The use of other smaller creatures to see if it avoids them would be interesting as well. But I think something to consider - it's possible the show wouldn't be aired if say a salamander or a brown field mouse actually DID get stepped on.

So, I would say, to test what people are saying here, use a fake white mouse. If it yields the same result as the live mouse, then use a fake brown mouse. Would probably have to have it mimic scent, and have a 'squeek' sound.

quote:

Originally posted by Duffydl1013:
The problem may be that they used a white lab mouse. Small white creatures in an elephant's natural environment are rare at best. The elephants may have been reacting to something novel or unusual. They need to repeat the experiment using 'wild type' mice like those that would typically be found in fields.

I agree with you... They need to repeat the experiment using several animals from different species (mice, tarantula, turtles, etc.) like those that would typically be found in fields. This experiment should give us more information about if elephants are afraid of mice or they just avoid them because it is not their intent to hurt them.

I feel that the "elephants are afraid of mice" myth should be redone useing two different fake but realistic mice each a different color one black or brown and the other one white. Then they should do the same thing they did in the origional attempt exept with animals native to Africa.

I really loved the episode about the elephants being afraid of mice. More power to your show!

I have to agree with some of the other posters in this thread, the elephant didn't seem scared at all it was just being carefull not to step on the poor little mouse.

just because I don't want to step in dog poo doesn't mean I'm afraid of it.

fish in a baril was asom

quote:

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this is stupid they needed to test without the mouse and see if the elephant still moved

The issue with "elephants are afraid of mice" is that how do you know it is fear?

What if the elephant's reaction is sympathy, or out of care - not wanting to hurt a small animal?

Or, what if it's just an instinctual reaction?

Giving an animal human emotional traits doesn't really work when trying to "bust" a myth. It's just not sound logic.

I don't think it had much to do with the sight of the mouse. My guess is that the elephant was startled by the mouses "squeaking" - seeing as elephants have extremely sensative hearing, especially at higher Hz.

quote:

Originally posted by mythmod:
Are elephants afraid of mice?

Talk About It Here!

MythMod

Hey,
Maybe elephants just recognize something alive and avoid it. Could test be done again with small flightless bird?
Thanks,
dbkb

As I understand the myth of the mouse and the elephant, the elephant is afraid of the mouse because it can get inside of the trunk and cause trouble.

in are elephants afraid of mice myth why can't the mices squeaks scare the elephant away not the sight of them.