Wot's Wacky Sep

Are elephants really scared of a mouse?

Whaddaya reckon kids? Is a great big elephant REALLY scared of a teeny tiny mouse?

Lots of zookeepers will tell you that they have often seen mice scampering around in the hay near elephants, and the elephants don’t even look at them. In fact, a mouse is so small compared to an elephant, the elephant probably doesn’t even see it.

The Mythbusters decided to see if this legend was true, so they went to a game park and hid a little while mouse under a pile of dried elephant dung. They had invisible string tied to the dung. When a couple of elephants came near they upended the dung, letting the little while mouse run out. They were sure the elephant would just ignore the mouse, but guess what? The elephant stopped and backed away and it really looked like he was scared of the mouse!

You can watch what happened at this site:

http://www.xenvideo.com/2007/11/30/are-elephants-scared-of-mice-mythbusters/

Was it the mouse the elephant was scared of, or the moving pile of dung?! Or just the sudden movement? You decide.