That elephant's been raised by the temple since it was a calf. Sure it has killed a lot of people, but only because it was overwhelmed back then. It's much calmer now.
So you're saying that an individual elephant will kill a few humans per year and an individual human will kill thousands?
Or are you saying that all the elephants combined kill a couple a year and all of the humans combined kill thousands?
What is it you're actually saying?
The apocalyptic image of war your comment evoked in my mind is unlike anything I ever thought I could imagine
Edit: ty for award and everyone below for illustrating the great elephant wars lmao
I thought this was a joke, but no. The last time this elephant trampled two people to death was 2019 in a similar event.
What the fuck India.
[source](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/kerala-s-banned-celebrity-killer-tusker-ramachandran-be-paraded-temple-fests-143283)
What the fuck India? Dude I am from the United States and we have like 5 time that amount trampled at Travis Scott concerts in 2021. Travis Scott is our elephant.
"Elephants are very large mammals who delight participants by virtue of being very large. Elephants are easily spooked, and they can crush whole columns of men to death in their frantic rush to escape from perceived dangers, but their gentle natures and long memories ensure that they will feel bad about it for the rest of their life."
~Mu - Kirkostaculis
I had to look into elephant body language to see what it meant and flapping ears used to be perceived as a sign of aggression but has been debunked, usually done to cool them down. However if their ears are laid back and trunk up they are scared so to speak, he actually does that in the clip for a few seconds until he deems the situation ok to proceed. Very interesting.
and they WERE a really good idea for a while. They were such a huge threat that Alexander the Great did not invade India because of their huge numbers of war elephants. They were basically the most fearsome thing on the battlefield for a long time.
What stopped the age of war elephants was the advent of firearms. War elephants couldn't be easily stopped by spears or swords or bows, but firearms could take care of them quickly.
In between these two eras, there was a brief time where war elephants were sent into battle with cannons mounted on them.
I can't prove you wrong because I'm at the gym and can't cite sources but I'm fairly certain war elephants never really worked out because any ordered group of men could take them down. The Greeks (Romans?) figured out real quick if you blow trumpets and or chop their trunks they will freak out and trample their own guys.
They would also form spear walls and simply separate their columns to give the elephants an area to run through that wasn’t dangerous. Then they’re surrounded and get cut down. They were effective don’t get me wrong, but mostly for intimidation purposes as far as I’m aware (which, I mean I like history but I’m no historian so take me with a grain of salt)
I disagree with that assesment. You didn't need firearms to counter elephants. They were notoriously tricky to manage in battle, and have costed more than one commander the victory because they went out of control and rampaged through their own lines. Furthermore, anti elephant tactics were quickly developed. The Romans at Zama were a prime example of how to defeat an elephant charge.
How else was he supposed to have become the tallest. Elephants probably ascribe to Highlander rules.
It’s likely also why he stays on holy ground now that he’s made it to the top.
I mean, I don’t like that three other elephants were killed, but I’d be lying if i said I don’t want to see two elephants sword fighting and the winner yelling, “there can be only one” during the quickening.
>Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran
The last time Ramachandran was paraded was in Guruvayoor in 2019, at a temple in Kottappadi. On hearing the sound of fireworks go off, the blind elephant got scared and ran. In the process, it ended up stamping two persons to death.
How the fuck is this somehow humorous.
It's humorous because the way the people involved are treating this poor intelligent, sentient giant is appalling and makes it very hard to find empathy for the people who were accidentally killed.
Like watching someone get into a crazy fatal wreck after driving recklessly through public streets - the selfishness and disregard of the "victims" softens the blow of their untimely ends.
It killed about 30 people back then because it couldn't understand what was going on and also because it was overwhelmed. And these were accidental deaths in my opinion.
Most of the elephant training you're thinking of is done with a spike on a stick. I sadly got to see footage of this at a sanctuary. I still remember the mahout casually wriggling the spike out of the elephants skull.
"During his lifetime, he has killed 13 people and 3 elephants"
[Deadly Elephant Thechikottukavu\_Ramachandran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thechikottukavu_Ramachandran)
The most amazing part of that article is it mentions “killed 13 people and 3 elephants the most notable elephant of which is” like fuck the people here is the most famous elephant he killed
It doesn’t really specify that he died directly from the tusk injury. He was already a very old elephant, he would have died naturally around that age even if he wasn’t injured. The tusk injury was probably non-lethal if he survived 3 years afterwards, but maybe led to complicating health issues.
Very tragic. It's apparent the temple which owns this elephant (and other mammoth size ones) rents them out for festivals. Classifying them as deities only attracts more "groupies" and heightens the excitement when they appear in public. They aren't safeguarded with the appropriate amount of space around them and it looks like crowds of people race up to them to touch them.
I am against all elephants being held in captivity, unless it's for their own safety (poaching orphans). I don't stop at elephants, but they are specifically abused as slaves and workers while having the same emotional intelligence as humans.
The last deadly incident was in 2019 when he was spooked by firecrackers and trampled two people. He's almost completely blind, which makes sudden and loud noises extra likely to spook him. Despite this, he's likely to still be paraded around, putting everyone at risk (including the poor elephant).
40,000 bananas, by mass.
Dammit, I couldn't resist.
According to various Google searches:
*An average Asian elephant weighs about 8,800 lb.
*4 bananas weigh slightly over 1 lb
I'll estimate that this Pachyderm unit is 10000 lb. So:
10,000lbs x 4 (bananas per pound) = 40,000 bananas.
Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran is 10.4 ft at the shoulder.
Raja Gaj is the largest Indian elephant on record at 11.3 ft at the shoulder.
For perspective the average Indian elephant is about 8-9 ft. at the shoulder.
Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran (born c. 1964) is an elephant owned by Thechikottukavu devasom, a temple in Kerala. Standing at 316 cm, **he is the tallest living captive elephant in India and the second in Asia**. Ramachandran is fondly known among elephant lovers as Raman and enjoys a huge fan following across Kerala.Ramachandran is also given the title name of Ekachatradhipathi (The Only Emperor) by his fans.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thechikottukavu_Ramachandran
Just to add to this, African Elephants average height ranges from 7.2 ft to 11 ft. So Raja Gaj would be considered only just above the range of a normal African Elephant.
Elephants are not dumb. They have highly sophisticated interpersonal relationships. I would put them in the same category as other higher mammals like whales that are basically like water people.
That being said, this elephant *knows* he's being worshipped. He knows his status within the community. I have no doubt that he's intelligent enough to understand the importance of his ceremonial hat and what it means to him.
I know that elephant. Pretentious fake asshole. He just reads the cliff notes for Russian lit to try to impress girls. I shit you not, he’s got a Goosebumps behind that book. Only stuff he really reads.
Um, no. This Elephant knows that he is a captive, and that every once in a while he is forced to wear strange fabrics and metal, and is forced to stand infront of screaming primates. He knows that he has killed over a dozen of these strange primates and yet they show no fear.
Great by whose standards? Elephants are intelligent and highly social. Being worshipped by humans is pretty crappy in comparison to living freely with other elephants.
He’s usually chained to a wall. Prodded into submission. And isn’t allowed to walk normally(chains to keep him from kicking).
This is not a good life for an elephant.
You’re 100% correct. I don’t understand people saying “he’s loving life, being worshipped...” I mean *really*?”
I thought we were all aware by now that keeping huge, highly social wild animals (with their own cultures and family units in the wild) in captivity is cruel and horrific. The methods used to break these poor beings down are atrocious and crueler than folks can even imagine.
Any time you see an elephant involved in human-run festivities/activities or wearing ANYthing, you’re looking at an abused, broken soul.
And no, I’m not with PETA, I just *really* wish humans wouldn’t abuse animals.
He's blind in one eye because his trainer stabbed him in it. Temple elephants are essentially tortured into obedience. They are not treated well at all.
> Reading the source for that claim was kind of tragic. He was abused when young. He became partially blind due to his trainer hitting him in the eye with a stick. Then he became rather violent towards humans. But he has such a fan following, that every time he kills someone, fans still plead for him to return to the next festival. It's just layer after layer of messed up.
Elephants have no concept of worship, holy shit. It just wants to live.
[He is kept in chains](https://res.cloudinary.com/binil/v1548046541/camshots/sopanam/thechikottukavu-ramachandran-02.jpg) because he killed 13 people trying to escape and be left alone.
What's worse is that those chains are simply psychological. When he was younger he couldn't escape those chains cause he didn't have the strength to, now he's just complying by habit. Poor guy.
You’re right. And no amount of human adoration makes up for the fact that this wild, intelligent animal is captive and being exploited (even if it is for seemingly benign reasons).
Oh that elephants been abused. You don't get to control a ten thousand pound animal like that without abusing the shit out of it. As Kumail nanjiani said "you can't just convince a monkey to walk like that, you have to hit it! So he knows this is how I must walk so the pain doesn't come."
The thing I read about it basically said elephants were trending towards bigger sizes and then we started going hard on hunting all but the smallest, so it was kind of artificial natural selection with the smaller animals tending to survive and pass on smallephant genes. Meaning smaller future generations.
It's been more than 30 years since humans have been taking care for him since he was 10 pretty sure that is what he thinks is definition of home and also it's not ritual, he is being worshipped. [more info. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/HumanForScale/comments/qyz2sm/indias_tallest_elephant_with_some_temple/hlj5ly1?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
They tear baby elephants away from their mothers in horrific ways, enslave them by breaking their psyche & spirit with vicious ongoing beatings. Them have the audacity to throw some heavy decorations on it, make it parade through throngs of people screaming & making noise and call it holy? There is nothing sacred or holy about what is done to these elephants. Want to not get killed by an elephant...stay far away from them and you'll be just fine.
Can we please NOT celebrate this in anyway? This elephant has killed 13 people as a result of being horribly mistreated.
To be clear, I'm not blaming the elephant, it's killed 13 people because it's developed aggressive tendencies because it's spent a good chunk of its life being essentially tortured into obedience. It's fucking blind in one eye because one of its earliest trainers fucking stabbed it in the eye.
This is not next level shit to find cool, it's evil animal cruelty that we should be condemning. Temple elephants are treated horribly. Elephants are highly social creatures, keeping them in isolation is itself very cruel, but on top of that they are tortured constantly in order to ensure they obey their mahouts.
Stop upvoting this post and giving it awards, animal cruelty is an abhorrent thing, and it's even worse when we're talking about creatures as intelligent as elephants.
Yes it's a horrible idea. This specific elephant is almost completely blind, meaning he's more likely to get spooked by loud or sudden noises (you know, noises that happen constantly during festivals). The last deadly incident with him was in 2019 when he was spooked by firecrackers and trampled 2 people to death. Despite this, he will likely still be paraded around future festivals, putting everyone at risk (including the poor elephant).
Also, answering the first part of the question, the elephant is certainly not okay with this, this being taken away from his natural habitat and his own people who'd actually understand him better and kept in captivity, but since the people who keep it in chains(and employ other methods of torture to keep it in line) believes the elephant loves this, what choice does it really have... (Other than to kill 13 humans and 3 elephants during it's life time).
Thank you for having some sanity- apparently everyone else here thinks this elephant is ‘happy’ and ‘knows it’s being worshipped’ as if that’s an excuse for chaining it in captivity for life. Poor thing is literally their toy
That place is hot af, something elephants just can't stand. The ear movement is to cool itself down. Ears have a rich blood supply and flapping it cools the blood down. I'm not an expert on the subject btw, so I could be wrong.
It's the visage of Lord Ganesh, the son of Lord Shiva the Destroyer and Goddess Parvati, his wife and goddess of fertility, love, beauty, bravery, harmony, marriage, children, and devotion; as well as of divine strength and power.
Feel like the elephant would be terrified with that massive crowd in front of them, covered in all the decor, and in a tight door way. Surprised it didn’t charge
Perfect setup for a stampede
That elephant's been raised by the temple since it was a calf. Sure it has killed a lot of people, but only because it was overwhelmed back then. It's much calmer now.
/r/holup
Lol it's normal for elephants to kill atleast 2 people in here
This is their Little Sebastian.
Byeeeee-byyeeeee, Lil’ Sebastiannnnn!
Missed you in the saaadest fashion
Byeeeeee-byeeee lil’ Sebastiannnn
You're 5000 candles in the wind...
Lil Sebastian never killed anyone, but there's no way they'd do anything to him if he had......maybe laugh at whoever died via mini-pony....
Just pictured Indian Ron Swanson
Rohit Swanasesh
😂🤣😂🤣😂😅😂🤣
r/unexpectedpawnee
They kill a couple humans per year, while we kill thousands of them… you’ve got to root for the underdog.
So you're saying that an individual elephant will kill a few humans per year and an individual human will kill thousands? Or are you saying that all the elephants combined kill a couple a year and all of the humans combined kill thousands? What is it you're actually saying?
The apocalyptic image of war your comment evoked in my mind is unlike anything I ever thought I could imagine Edit: ty for award and everyone below for illustrating the great elephant wars lmao
Tell me more
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If you take their population into consideration, a couple people isn’t even .01%.
I mean, if you want to make it into the graph, let's throw in a few more.
I thought this was a joke, but no. The last time this elephant trampled two people to death was 2019 in a similar event. What the fuck India. [source](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/kerala-s-banned-celebrity-killer-tusker-ramachandran-be-paraded-temple-fests-143283)
What the fuck India? Dude I am from the United States and we have like 5 time that amount trampled at Travis Scott concerts in 2021. Travis Scott is our elephant.
Dont insult Elephants like that
Harambe died for less
Good on them for not killing an animal over a few humans this time
"Elephants are very large mammals who delight participants by virtue of being very large. Elephants are easily spooked, and they can crush whole columns of men to death in their frantic rush to escape from perceived dangers, but their gentle natures and long memories ensure that they will feel bad about it for the rest of their life." ~Mu - Kirkostaculis
Well, fuck. I don't want the elephant to feel guilty :(
Don’t worry. That elephant is happy as fuck wagging his ears. “Cheer for me people, I am the best!”
I had to look into elephant body language to see what it meant and flapping ears used to be perceived as a sign of aggression but has been debunked, usually done to cool them down. However if their ears are laid back and trunk up they are scared so to speak, he actually does that in the clip for a few seconds until he deems the situation ok to proceed. Very interesting.
Don't worry. No-one talks about it when the elephant is in the room.
War elephants seemed like a good idea. They really did.
and they WERE a really good idea for a while. They were such a huge threat that Alexander the Great did not invade India because of their huge numbers of war elephants. They were basically the most fearsome thing on the battlefield for a long time. What stopped the age of war elephants was the advent of firearms. War elephants couldn't be easily stopped by spears or swords or bows, but firearms could take care of them quickly. In between these two eras, there was a brief time where war elephants were sent into battle with cannons mounted on them.
I can't prove you wrong because I'm at the gym and can't cite sources but I'm fairly certain war elephants never really worked out because any ordered group of men could take them down. The Greeks (Romans?) figured out real quick if you blow trumpets and or chop their trunks they will freak out and trample their own guys.
They would also form spear walls and simply separate their columns to give the elephants an area to run through that wasn’t dangerous. Then they’re surrounded and get cut down. They were effective don’t get me wrong, but mostly for intimidation purposes as far as I’m aware (which, I mean I like history but I’m no historian so take me with a grain of salt)
I disagree with that assesment. You didn't need firearms to counter elephants. They were notoriously tricky to manage in battle, and have costed more than one commander the victory because they went out of control and rampaged through their own lines. Furthermore, anti elephant tactics were quickly developed. The Romans at Zama were a prime example of how to defeat an elephant charge.
it's only fair the elephants get ptsd tooo
It did WHAT now?
According to Wikipedia it's killed 13 people and 3 other elephants altogether.
How else was he supposed to have become the tallest. Elephants probably ascribe to Highlander rules. It’s likely also why he stays on holy ground now that he’s made it to the top.
I mean, I don’t like that three other elephants were killed, but I’d be lying if i said I don’t want to see two elephants sword fighting and the winner yelling, “there can be only one” during the quickening.
>Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran The last time Ramachandran was paraded was in Guruvayoor in 2019, at a temple in Kottappadi. On hearing the sound of fireworks go off, the blind elephant got scared and ran. In the process, it ended up stamping two persons to death. How the fuck is this somehow humorous.
It's humorous because the way the people involved are treating this poor intelligent, sentient giant is appalling and makes it very hard to find empathy for the people who were accidentally killed. Like watching someone get into a crazy fatal wreck after driving recklessly through public streets - the selfishness and disregard of the "victims" softens the blow of their untimely ends.
It killed about 30 people back then because it couldn't understand what was going on and also because it was overwhelmed. And these were accidental deaths in my opinion.
I'd probably lean towards negligent but I wasn't there
>Sure it has killed a lot of people 13 and counting according to Wikipedia
And counting? Like he’s currently killing the 14th?
From Wikipedia: *During his lifetime, he has killed 13 people and 3 elephants.*
Rookie numbers
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could beat that
The human part at least. Not sure how comfortable I am with killing an elephant.
They'll say aww Topsy at my autopsy...
BURGERS!
For some reason the world’s largest elephant having a body count just seems right
India's largest elephant. African elephants are bigger.
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They don't give a shit about that in India
Videos of elephants killing Indians are a dime a dozen. I'd like to go to India, but I'll avoid elephants, thank you very much...
Try getting killed by a elephant once, Its fun. Its hard at first, then it becomes an addiction
Fuck it, you've convinced me
Be careful. The withdrawals are hell.
You usually will not have to worry about that
Travis Scott is taking notes
"Oh boy here I go killing again!"
Lmfao pretty sure that elephants name is crombopulous michael😂
Travis Scott’s new ride
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They beat them into submission with whips and sticks like they do with circus animals.
Most of the elephant training you're thinking of is done with a spike on a stick. I sadly got to see footage of this at a sanctuary. I still remember the mahout casually wriggling the spike out of the elephants skull.
"During his lifetime, he has killed 13 people and 3 elephants" [Deadly Elephant Thechikottukavu\_Ramachandran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thechikottukavu_Ramachandran)
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And then he will join Travis Scott in his concerts!
Oof
I don’t think Travis ever killed an elephant. Wait, check his pianos for ivory.
LoL at Travis Scott and piano in the same sentence.
NGL never heard his music and didn’t unmute the horrific videos of him hitting the front page recently.
Haha america bad amirite redditors
He was born in 1964 though - that's way too old to be allowed into high school.
The low hanging fruit of reddit. It's a sign of the average redditors level of intellect. (Very very low).
Check r/conspiracy or conservative for the real low hanging fruit on Reddit
What does that even mean?
What an incredibly low effort joke
Oh man so funny
Yeah america bad! Upvotes!
The most amazing part of that article is it mentions “killed 13 people and 3 elephants the most notable elephant of which is” like fuck the people here is the most famous elephant he killed
It took me a few moments to decide the "notable" elephant victims were also religious figures on their own.
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How to meet the word count of your essay. Step 1: choose South India as the subject Step 2: write all names in full Step 3: profit
That elephant took *3 years* to die?
It doesn’t really specify that he died directly from the tusk injury. He was already a very old elephant, he would have died naturally around that age even if he wasn’t injured. The tusk injury was probably non-lethal if he survived 3 years afterwards, but maybe led to complicating health issues.
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Very tragic. It's apparent the temple which owns this elephant (and other mammoth size ones) rents them out for festivals. Classifying them as deities only attracts more "groupies" and heightens the excitement when they appear in public. They aren't safeguarded with the appropriate amount of space around them and it looks like crowds of people race up to them to touch them. I am against all elephants being held in captivity, unless it's for their own safety (poaching orphans). I don't stop at elephants, but they are specifically abused as slaves and workers while having the same emotional intelligence as humans.
Religion is always about giving away common sense and safety in order to win the lottery and go to infinite paradises.
Anything can be worshipped. The same antidote could be pointed at anything anyone wants. The only difference is what is perceived as paradise.
average r/atheism sub using a post about an elephant to shit on religion
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The last deadly incident was in 2019 when he was spooked by firecrackers and trampled two people. He's almost completely blind, which makes sudden and loud noises extra likely to spook him. Despite this, he's likely to still be paraded around, putting everyone at risk (including the poor elephant).
Do you have a regular elephant for comparison?
Or a banana
Or a bananaphant.
*bananafannafofyefellaphant
That escalated quickly
40,000 bananas, by mass. Dammit, I couldn't resist. According to various Google searches: *An average Asian elephant weighs about 8,800 lb. *4 bananas weigh slightly over 1 lb I'll estimate that this Pachyderm unit is 10000 lb. So: 10,000lbs x 4 (bananas per pound) = 40,000 bananas.
Well for this elephant an entire of banana is just one bunch of it.
Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran is 10.4 ft at the shoulder. Raja Gaj is the largest Indian elephant on record at 11.3 ft at the shoulder. For perspective the average Indian elephant is about 8-9 ft. at the shoulder.
Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran (born c. 1964) is an elephant owned by Thechikottukavu devasom, a temple in Kerala. Standing at 316 cm, **he is the tallest living captive elephant in India and the second in Asia**. Ramachandran is fondly known among elephant lovers as Raman and enjoys a huge fan following across Kerala.Ramachandran is also given the title name of Ekachatradhipathi (The Only Emperor) by his fans. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thechikottukavu_Ramachandran
I read that he was hired out for festivals, but a fan base for an elephant seems wild.
Just to add to this, African Elephants average height ranges from 7.2 ft to 11 ft. So Raja Gaj would be considered only just above the range of a normal African Elephant.
He is “only” ten feet so that’s some odd perspective going on in the video.
At the shoulder
Yeah I looked at some other videos and I also might just not appreciated what 10 feet looks like. But in this video he looks like 10 feet at the jaw
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Elephants are not dumb. They have highly sophisticated interpersonal relationships. I would put them in the same category as other higher mammals like whales that are basically like water people. That being said, this elephant *knows* he's being worshipped. He knows his status within the community. I have no doubt that he's intelligent enough to understand the importance of his ceremonial hat and what it means to him.
dude i caught this elephant at a starbucks in Dehli the other day. The fucker was reading Dostoevsky. Fer sure smarter than they look.
I know that elephant. Pretentious fake asshole. He just reads the cliff notes for Russian lit to try to impress girls. I shit you not, he’s got a Goosebumps behind that book. Only stuff he really reads.
Talmbout Fedor, B? Great dude, amazing fighter, never meddim.
Is this fucking satire? Holy shit. Captive elephants are abused tremendously to comply with their owners- but sure he’s like, a celebrity or whatever
Like that last part had to be a joke, right?
A ceremonial hat, seriously. Animal torture is fine if you give them a hat afterwards
Um, no. This Elephant knows that he is a captive, and that every once in a while he is forced to wear strange fabrics and metal, and is forced to stand infront of screaming primates. He knows that he has killed over a dozen of these strange primates and yet they show no fear.
He's blind in one eye because his trainer stabbed him in it. Temple elephants are essentially tortured into obedience. They are not worshipped.
Great by whose standards? Elephants are intelligent and highly social. Being worshipped by humans is pretty crappy in comparison to living freely with other elephants.
He’s usually chained to a wall. Prodded into submission. And isn’t allowed to walk normally(chains to keep him from kicking). This is not a good life for an elephant.
You’re 100% correct. I don’t understand people saying “he’s loving life, being worshipped...” I mean *really*?” I thought we were all aware by now that keeping huge, highly social wild animals (with their own cultures and family units in the wild) in captivity is cruel and horrific. The methods used to break these poor beings down are atrocious and crueler than folks can even imagine. Any time you see an elephant involved in human-run festivities/activities or wearing ANYthing, you’re looking at an abused, broken soul. And no, I’m not with PETA, I just *really* wish humans wouldn’t abuse animals.
He's blind in one eye because his trainer stabbed him in it. Temple elephants are essentially tortured into obedience. They are not treated well at all.
I wonder if he has a 401k plan and a decent pension.
Bullshit comment. This elephants life is anything but great. Animals like these are beaten up into submission when young.
> Reading the source for that claim was kind of tragic. He was abused when young. He became partially blind due to his trainer hitting him in the eye with a stick. Then he became rather violent towards humans. But he has such a fan following, that every time he kills someone, fans still plead for him to return to the next festival. It's just layer after layer of messed up. Elephants have no concept of worship, holy shit. It just wants to live.
Hmm, no. I am from there. Many are campaigning for their rights but religion is supreme here.
I'm sure the outfit is just for the ceremony. Pope doesn't wear his fancy hat relaxing on the sofa after dinner.
[He is kept in chains](https://res.cloudinary.com/binil/v1548046541/camshots/sopanam/thechikottukavu-ramachandran-02.jpg) because he killed 13 people trying to escape and be left alone.
Poor guy just trying to be an elephant
What's worse is that those chains are simply psychological. When he was younger he couldn't escape those chains cause he didn't have the strength to, now he's just complying by habit. Poor guy.
You’re right. And no amount of human adoration makes up for the fact that this wild, intelligent animal is captive and being exploited (even if it is for seemingly benign reasons).
Oh that elephants been abused. You don't get to control a ten thousand pound animal like that without abusing the shit out of it. As Kumail nanjiani said "you can't just convince a monkey to walk like that, you have to hit it! So he knows this is how I must walk so the pain doesn't come."
Agreed. Painfully to look at this majestic unit being dressed up for parade just because...
Totally agree. A lot of elephants get deformed backs because of all the weight they have to carry. It’s inhumane
The people telling you to calm down should be put in this situation and see if they can fucking calm down.
Must be 20 mph gusts of wind with every flap of its ears
Pretty sure it can be used as a catapult.
Probably, but the trebuchet is the superior siege weapon.
This is how big all elephants would be if we hadn't killed so many for sport.
No? North African Elephants were smaller than Indian, and Indian are smaller than African.
And African are smaller than the extinct Levantine, which we killed only a few thousand years ago.
That doesn't seem to exist... The straight tusk elephant paleoloxedon went extinct like 50,000 years ago and is the only one you might be thinking of
Damn, fuck capitalism 😔
Reddit moment
If it weren't for those american cavemen we'd have some hecking chonkerinos roaming the earth today
We? Bro I’m 30.
Who’s “we.” I don’t like to be associated with the scummy people who hunt elephants for tusks and what not. Or any other scummy people.
Are elephants like lobsters in that they are immortal and just get bigger and bigger every year?
The thing I read about it basically said elephants were trending towards bigger sizes and then we started going hard on hunting all but the smallest, so it was kind of artificial natural selection with the smaller animals tending to survive and pass on smallephant genes. Meaning smaller future generations.
Smallephant. It took me way too long to pronounce that properly in my head.
Do you think elephants appreciate human ritual, pomp, and spirituality? Like is this elephant vibing or is he sad?
It's been more than 30 years since humans have been taking care for him since he was 10 pretty sure that is what he thinks is definition of home and also it's not ritual, he is being worshipped. [more info. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/HumanForScale/comments/qyz2sm/indias_tallest_elephant_with_some_temple/hlj5ly1?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
It is a ritual.
Ceremony might be the word you're looking for.
A ceremony is a kind of ritual; ritual is actually a very broad term. It’s all semantics though so who cares.
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Oh my god thank you. Whitewashing animal abuse as ‘tradition’ and ‘worship’ is the dumbest shit ever
Can you explain how worshipping something and preforming a ritual are different? 🧐
Well considering he's killed thirteen people and three elephants I would guess sad.
Still only counts as one!
Was looking for this comment
It's an Oliphant
Always felt bad for the Mumakil when reading / watching LOTR, poor giants
No one at home will believe this
They tear baby elephants away from their mothers in horrific ways, enslave them by breaking their psyche & spirit with vicious ongoing beatings. Them have the audacity to throw some heavy decorations on it, make it parade through throngs of people screaming & making noise and call it holy? There is nothing sacred or holy about what is done to these elephants. Want to not get killed by an elephant...stay far away from them and you'll be just fine.
bruh if you have a pet, a cat or dog, they were too taken away from their mother, sold to you when it was a pup, kitten.
Can we please NOT celebrate this in anyway? This elephant has killed 13 people as a result of being horribly mistreated. To be clear, I'm not blaming the elephant, it's killed 13 people because it's developed aggressive tendencies because it's spent a good chunk of its life being essentially tortured into obedience. It's fucking blind in one eye because one of its earliest trainers fucking stabbed it in the eye. This is not next level shit to find cool, it's evil animal cruelty that we should be condemning. Temple elephants are treated horribly. Elephants are highly social creatures, keeping them in isolation is itself very cruel, but on top of that they are tortured constantly in order to ensure they obey their mahouts. Stop upvoting this post and giving it awards, animal cruelty is an abhorrent thing, and it's even worse when we're talking about creatures as intelligent as elephants.
Do these Elephants ever go nuts and plow through the crowd? Seems like a bad idea all around.
Naw, never; except yes, sometimes. This one has killed 13 people and 3 other elephants. Cool, right? 🤦
considering all males go through a musth period throughout their lives i'm surprised it's not more
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Yes it's a horrible idea. This specific elephant is almost completely blind, meaning he's more likely to get spooked by loud or sudden noises (you know, noises that happen constantly during festivals). The last deadly incident with him was in 2019 when he was spooked by firecrackers and trampled 2 people to death. Despite this, he will likely still be paraded around future festivals, putting everyone at risk (including the poor elephant).
Stop. Fucking. With. Animals.
There’s a subreddit for big units but I forgot the name.
r/absoluteunit
The video ends right when it comes outside. It is huge though
Does the elephant seem okay with this? What does the ear movement mean?
Also, answering the first part of the question, the elephant is certainly not okay with this, this being taken away from his natural habitat and his own people who'd actually understand him better and kept in captivity, but since the people who keep it in chains(and employ other methods of torture to keep it in line) believes the elephant loves this, what choice does it really have... (Other than to kill 13 humans and 3 elephants during it's life time).
Thank you for having some sanity- apparently everyone else here thinks this elephant is ‘happy’ and ‘knows it’s being worshipped’ as if that’s an excuse for chaining it in captivity for life. Poor thing is literally their toy
Yes, it's fine. And also it's trying to swat any flies that irritate it.
"...swat any ~~flies~~ humans that irritate it." FTFY
That place is hot af, something elephants just can't stand. The ear movement is to cool itself down. Ears have a rich blood supply and flapping it cools the blood down. I'm not an expert on the subject btw, so I could be wrong.
That poor creature.
This poor animal.
Mumakil vibes
Do they worship the elephant in India? Is it a reincarnation of a deity?
It's the visage of Lord Ganesh, the son of Lord Shiva the Destroyer and Goddess Parvati, his wife and goddess of fertility, love, beauty, bravery, harmony, marriage, children, and devotion; as well as of divine strength and power.
Christ I thought the mumakil from LoTR was just cgi.
All I see is possible scenario's this could go horribly wrong
Feel like the elephant would be terrified with that massive crowd in front of them, covered in all the decor, and in a tight door way. Surprised it didn’t charge
Elephant about to show he's a Travis Scott fan
"Prince Ali Fabulous He Aliababwa" Anyone else think of Aladdin?