What was so special about that?

That was funny! I would have shiat my pants if I was the one driving that car.

Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Single males hanging about on there own can go "Rogue". They will attack cars and kill people.

Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Seriously.

The car got too close to the elephant and stopped, he just said "BACK THE fark UP".

Galactic_Empanada: Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Seriously.

The car got too close to the elephant and stopped, he just said "BACK THE fark UP".

No the elephant very nearly attacked the van. It is likely that an elephant like this will at some point attack and kill people. It happens. Not very often, but it does. If you see behavior like this from a solitary male it is a bad sign, this sort of posturing by a cow with a calf is more common and they will not usually attack if you are not perceived as a threat to the calf, but in a full grown adult male like this, he could very likely kill people.

Here is a rule you can go by in Africa - if an animal does not run away from you - run away from it. If an elephant charges you, you get the fark away from it, because it will try and kill you.

/Lived in Botswana for many years.

BlahBlahBlahNeil: Galactic_Empanada: Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Seriously.

The car got too close to the elephant and stopped, he just said "BACK THE fark UP".

No the elephant very nearly attacked the van. It is likely that an elephant like this will at some point attack and kill people. It happens. Not very often, but it does. If you see behavior like this from a solitary male it is a bad sign, this sort of posturing by a cow with a calf is more common and they will not usually attack if you are not perceived as a threat to the calf, but in a full grown adult male like this, he could very likely kill people.

Here is a rule you can go by in Africa - if an animal does not run away from you - run away from it. If an elephant charges you, you get the fark away from it, because it will try and kill you.

/Lived in Botswana for many years.

In a PARK?

To be fair, the van was just about to run over his trophy turds he dropped in the street. Come on, you know you don't flush so others can witness the glory!

flexflint: BlahBlahBlahNeil: Galactic_Empanada: Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Seriously.

The car got too close to the elephant and stopped, he just said "BACK THE fark UP".

No the elephant very nearly attacked the van. It is likely that an elephant like this will at some point attack and kill people. It happens. Not very often, but it does. If you see behavior like this from a solitary male it is a bad sign, this sort of posturing by a cow with a calf is more common and they will not usually attack if you are not perceived as a threat to the calf, but in a full grown adult male like this, he could very likely kill people.

Here is a rule you can go by in Africa - if an animal does not run away from you - run away from it. If an elephant charges you, you get the fark away from it, because it will try and kill you.

/Lived in Botswana for many years.

In a PARK?

What is the question - did I live in a park? No.

Would an elephant kill someone in a park? Yes.

Not all the animals live in parks either, not all the parks are fenced, not that a fence does a whole lot to deter an elephant. By and large most of these guys stay well away from people - if they do not - then there is something wrong.

So the elephant jumps out to attack a car.

The car tries to get away but the road ahead is blocked by some idiots trying to film the attack.

BlahBlahBlahNeil: flexflint: BlahBlahBlahNeil: Galactic_Empanada: Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Seriously.

The car got too close to the elephant and stopped, he just said "BACK THE fark UP".

No the elephant very nearly attacked the van. It is likely that an elephant like this will at some point attack and kill people. It happens. Not very often, but it does. If you see behavior like this from a solitary male it is a bad sign, this sort of posturing by a cow with a calf is more common and they will not usually attack if you are not perceived as a threat to the calf, but in a full grown adult male like this, he could very likely kill people.

Here is a rule you can go by in Africa - if an animal does not run away from you - run away from it. If an elephant charges you, you get the fark away from it, because it will try and kill you.

/Lived in Botswana for many years.

In a PARK?

What is the question - did I live in a park? No.

Would an elephant kill someone in a park? Yes.

Not all the animals live in parks either, not all the parks are fenced, not that a fence does a whole lot to deter an elephant. By and large most of these guys stay well away from people - if they do not - then there is something wrong.

/Have been living in Thailand for 7 years. Agree with BlahBlah 100%. I have seen elephant highwaymen hold up fruit trucks for the ransom of a bale of sugarcane. Thai fruit truck drivers drivers carry several just in case. This usually happens at night during droughts.

//I've had our local female elephant tap me on the helmet while stopped at a light in Bangkok. She was messing with me. She also uses her trunk to get between me and my wife. Then she edges my wife away. Miss Elephant thinks I'm very good with her calf and marriage material. I am glad Miss E has not carried me off to have her way with me...very scary!!!

was anyone else expecting another elephant to come out of the bushes from either side of the road to fark with the people holding the camera? That is elephants farking with people.


/Clever Boy.

BlahBlahBlahNeil: flexflint: BlahBlahBlahNeil: Galactic_Empanada: Airfoilsguy: What was so special about that?

Seriously.

The car got too close to the elephant and stopped, he just said "BACK THE fark UP".

No the elephant very nearly attacked the van. It is likely that an elephant like this will at some point attack and kill people. It happens. Not very often, but it does. If you see behavior like this from a solitary male it is a bad sign, this sort of posturing by a cow with a calf is more common and they will not usually attack if you are not perceived as a threat to the calf, but in a full grown adult male like this, he could very likely kill people.

Here is a rule you can go by in Africa - if an animal does not run away from you - run away from it. If an elephant charges you, you get the fark away from it, because it will try and kill you.

/Lived in Botswana for many years.

In a PARK?

What is the question - did I live in a park? No.

Would an elephant kill someone in a park? Yes.

Not all the animals live in parks either, not all the parks are fenced, not that a fence does a whole lot to deter an elephant. By and large most of these guys stay well away from people - if they do not - then there is something wrong.

Ya, people are stealing the elephants habitat.


/Not usually a treehugger but I like elephants.

The elephant did this on purpose. See the ears after the van goes past? That's how elephant show amusement. I don't know about the leg-lift, but it looks like he's saying it was a knee-slapper.

Faster, must go faster.

TRUNK'D

AliasUndercover: The elephant did this on purpose. See the ears after the van goes past? That's how elephant show amusement. I don't know about the leg-lift, but it looks like he's saying it was a knee-slapper.

Again the elephant being amused means nothing - he might also have been amused if he had caught the van and killed the occupants. Not saying that elephants are bad or anything - just that a wild animal is a wild animal, and when it weighs as much as a bull elephant you ought to respect it and not underestimate it.

Airfoilsguy:
Ya, people are stealing the elephants habitat.

/Not usually a treehugger but I like elephants.

I like elephants too. People and elephants have been living side by side for a long time. And people killing a few elephants and elephants sometimes killing a few people has been part of that. The ivory trade and the machine gun have upset that balance in a severe way, but still in places like Botswana people and elephants have been living side by side for almost as long as there has been people.

Here is an interesting thing, the Asian elephant is the only land animal over that averages over 2 tons to be found out side of Africa. Everywhere else the really big stuff died out about the same time that people arrived. In Africa there was a certain amount of co evolution that means - an elephant will not be scared of a lion, but he knows to stay away from people, for the most part. The same generally goes for other animals that have little to fear in the way of predators. One exception to this is the Crocodile - he will hunt your ass and eat you with out any qualms.

Hippos are also notoriously dangerous - but mostly because they are very difficult to see and are very protective of their young. They can move very fast over short distances.

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenage son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Don Piano: In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenage son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Will you be here all week? I chuckled audibly.

Well, animals are not like people, Mrs. Simpson. Some of them act badly because they've had a hard life, or have been mistreated...but, like people, some of them are just jerks.

Take Five: Will you be here all week? I chuckled audibly.

I can't take credit for that joke, but I will (and did when I first saw it) laugh along with you.

Cheers!

Don Piano: Probably wasn't the same elephant.

My Ozzie pal shared this joke quite a while back. We quickly devised a prank.

We made this joke into a PowerPoint slide show for our Thai University students. As elephants are seen as semi-divine animals, the students were trembling with emotion. They fell out of their chairs laughing once the punchline sunk in.

We save it for each incoming class as one time prank during orientation.

1. The elephants surround pickup trucks late at night at road bottlenecks in the National Forests. They stand there waiting as a roadblock and aren't afraid of fireworks. Failure to give ransom results in them helping themselves to the pickup truck's contents. So far no one has been injured because Thais know not to fark with the Elephant Boyz in the Hood.

2. Miss Elephant sees me often as she lives next to my brother-in-law's catfish pond where she and baby have a private water park. The neighbors adopted her after loggers had nearly killed her by working her to near death. She knows me by my voice and motorcycle/car engine noise. They don't see so well. They rely on hearing and scent to ID people. It isn't fun when they elephant greet you by sniffing your crotch.

If I eat fruit outdoors, she and baby stare at me with a "So monkey boy are you going to share or not?" As a puny primate, I damn well share with them.

Tourists rarely come out to the edge of Bangkok where I live. No one is allowed to photo them or ride them without permission. She and baby will not become an abused tourist photo opportunity.

What's the downside? Elephants sure do have a heavy scent, and I hope to never see her when she's having a bad day and venting. As I mentioned before, she is jealous of my wife, and I hope to never be ravished by Miss E.

The only elephants in my town are at wal*mart.