The whole truth about why elephants are afraid of mice

In fairy tales and myths of many peoples, there is a legend about a gigantic giant and a small or even a small creature that overcomes the giant. Let us recall at least the biblical myth of the giant Goliath, who was killed by a stone from the sling of young David. Ancient myths about small brave men are reflected in modern times: for example, the mouse from the cartoon "Tom and Jerry" always defeats the cat, although in real life such an outcome of the battle between these animals is hardly possible. Then why are elephants afraid of mice? Is this a myth or a truth?

People treat with great piety the opinions of authoritative scientists. Aristotle wrote that the spider has six legs - and this was considered an indisputable fact right up to Francis Bacon. Two thousand years ago, the historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote that elephants are afraid of mice, and many still share this opinion. According to Pliny, mighty African giants do not even want to eat food that stinks in mice. Say, the whole of their herds flee when they see only the mouse that appeared in front of them. Can this be so, and, most importantly, why?

Ancient Roman scientist put forward several versions explaining why elephants are afraid of mice. According to one of them, vile rodents gnaw through interdigital connections of elephants, which makes their paws vulnerable. Little brisk animals manage to gnaw at the heels of the elephants at night and even arrange for themselves mink, so that in the heat of a giant body you can take out the cubs! Therefore, elephants prefer to sleep standing up - not to tempt destiny. In addition, Pliny assured that the mice used to make their way into the trunks of giants, why they can suffocate. Thus, even these intelligent animals on the reflex level have an insurmountable fear of these babies.

The opinion of the eminent scientist was considered immutable, people were looking for additional explanations for why elephants are afraid of mice. But here in Europe there were circuses and zoos where elephants began to be kept. Then the caretakers of the animals noticed that near the cells and enclosures with the giants, the mice always start to grow. This is not surprising: elephants do not have the sharpest vision, often they leave pieces of food (bran, fruit and root crops), and that for such a giant baby, for a small animal - food for a week. However, people saw that elephants calmly react to tiny neighbors in a cage. True, they did not eat food with rodents, but on the other hand - would you eat food, in which something is stirring? As soon as the mouse left the bundle of hay, a powerful animal began to chew it calmly.

That's when people seriously thought: are the mice afraid of elephants? They began to conduct research. Gnawed rodents on the route of the herd of giants. If short-sighted giants saw tiny animals, they cautiously stepped over them or bypassed, but most often mice found their death under huge paws. People tried to show the mouse to the elephant, but he, contrary to Pliny the Elder, did not back down and showed no panic, but, on the contrary, dragged to it with a trunk to sniff an unfamiliar animal, and then lost all interest to it. Even if you let a rat walk through the mighty back of a giant, he will not lead a ear either. And if suddenly some mouse thinks of committing a suicide and for this purpose it will climb into the elephant trunk, the giant should only sneeze, as a tiny animal will fly for a couple of meters.

Maybe scientists have guessed, the secret of why elephants are afraid of mice lies not in the rodents themselves, but in the suddenness of their appearance? Or their squeak? The biggest land animals have a well-developed hearing and, after hearing a mouse squeak, they are really listening with caution. But then calm comes back to them, and they continue to do their own thing. What's the matter? Scientists have only recently discovered a riddle. Elephants - at least African - are afraid of the honey bee that is found on this continent. Bees live in huge colonies of several thousand insects. The buzz of one bee means that there are others nearby. And to communicate with the wild swarm of furious bees to the elephants oh as you do not want. Hence the conclusion of scientists: after hearing a mouse squeak, cautious giants listen tensely - are not they bees?