February 23, 2007: Elephant polo rampage

Three years ago, IotD pointed to Elephant polo in Sri Lanka. This year's polo did not go so well. In the middle of the match, the above elephant became enraged somehow, threw its riders, and ran off and decided to attack this van.

At the MSNBC story there is an amazing video of the event. Once the elephant decided to attack the van - which, it turns out, was the opposing team's van - it could not be dissuaded. Young spectators and trainers try to get it away from the van by peppering it with rocks and poking it with sticks. For some reason, this does not seem to calm the big bully. For a while it goes off and destroys some stands, but eventually it returns to the van, and head-butts it from all sides.

Eventually it pushed the whole thing over. Look at the power - all the elephant's feet are almost off the ground.

They used a tranquilizer gun to subdue the beast.



Here's a better idea... a non-contact sport, just a performance for tourists in Thailand.

Thanks xoB for the first image, from WaPo Day in Pics.

1. I wonder if elephant is tasty?

2. Is the hoopster pachyderm actually using his tail to help balance?

that must of been one hellava tranquilizer to bring it down!:eek: Where can i get some!:D Gotta a few people I need to "subdue".

Edit: Get a little trigger happy Elspode?

I wonder if it was a "bad call" that so enraged the pachy. Or maybe someone threw a cup at his wife in the stands...

Typical elephant hooligan.

Maybe the van made fun of him because he still had HIS trunk.

Undertoad;317932 wrote:

Young spectators and trainers try to get it away from the van by peppering it with rocks and poking it with sticks.

What, exactly, was going through people's minds at this point?

"Quick! Save the van! Distract the enraged beast by pelting it so it will attack us, instead!"

haha, happy friday!

They shouldn't treat animals this way. It's disgusting. Elephants are intelligent, beautiful beings and they are NOT here for our amusement. Really. Pisses. Me. Off. :mad:

BTW, best part of the video is when the elephant picks up one of those long sticks those assholes have been poking him with and flings it at them. I wished he had swatted them all with his trunk.

my favorite part is when the elephant grabs the stick and whips it back at the men. that was cool.

UT! UT! LJ is copying me!

Brianna;317951 wrote:

They shouldn't treat animals this way. It's disgusting. Elephants are intelligent, beautiful beings and they are NOT here for our amusement. Really. Pisses. Me. Off. :mad:

I agree!

You tell 'em, Bri.

Brianna;317951 wrote:

...they are NOT here for our amusement.

So, Bri, why are they here? :stickpoke

lumberjim;317953 wrote:

my favorite part is when the elephant grabs the stick and whips it back at the men. that was cool.

1:38 it is very cool.

Pie;317960 wrote:

So, Bri, why are they here? :stickpoke

Because the Universe Loves Diversity!

Anyway, haven't you seen that Star Trek movie or read HitchHikers/Galaxy? Whales and dolphins are the true stewards of this planet :)

Fun Fact: Dolphins are the only animal, besides men and women, who engage in sex just for FUN! Isn't that cool?

Brianna;317954 wrote:

UT! UT! LJ is copying me!

WOW. great minds....

Brianna;317966 wrote:

Because the Universe Loves Diversity!

Anyway, haven't you seen that Star Trek movie or read HitchHikers/Galaxy? Whales and dolphins are the true stewards of this planet :)

Fun Fact: Dolphins are the only animal, besides men and women, who engage in sex just for FUN! Isn't that cool?

But people who engage in sex with dolphins are just sick.

and people that engage in sex with elephants are.......huge?

Elspode;317975 wrote:

But people who engage in sex with dolphins are just sick.

But he was lookin' really hot and we just..Oops! never mind.

Brianna;317966 wrote:

Fun Fact: Dolphins are the only animal, besides men and women, who engage in sex just for FUN! Isn't that cool?

Dolphins also engage in gang rape. :eyebrow:

Brianna;317966 wrote:

Because the Universe Loves Diversity!

Anyway, haven't you seen that Star Trek movie or read HitchHikers/Galaxy? Whales and dolphins are the true stewards of this planet :)

Fun Fact: Dolphins are the only animal, besides men and women, who engage in sex just for FUN! Isn't that cool?

Cool but not even remotely true, all animals engage in sex for fun, they aren't much for family planning.

But even in the sense you meant other animals engage in recreational sex, Japanese macaques are even bisexual.

"I'm not playing again. It's not safe," said visiting American player Courtney Zenz after watching her teammate thrown from the back of the elephant and dangling in the air, her leg stuck in a stirrup.

:worried:

Ok, you guys have convinced me that dolphins suck.

happy now?

Brianna;317966 wrote:

Fun Fact: Dolphins are the only animal, besides men and women, who engage in sex just for FUN! Isn't that cool?

What about bonobos?

Lots of fish are hermaphroditic. I guess that makes them bisexual...in a way.

Dolphins are the smartest form of life on earth. Haven't any of you seen hitch hikers guide to the galaxy???

Its clear the elephant wanted to be 10B not 15C...

I'm confused about people quoting Hitchhikers Guide as saying dolphins are the smartest animal. The book makes it clear that dolphins are the second smartest animal, while mice are the smartest.

Larry;318064 wrote:

I'm confused about people quoting Hitchhikers Guide as saying dolphins are the smartest animal. The book makes it clear that dolphins are the second smartest animal, while mice are the smartest.

Forgive me. It's been the second toughest week of my life.

jinx;318045 wrote:

What about bonobos?

Sexual intercourse plays a major role in Bonobo society, being used as a greeting, a means of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconciliation, and as favors traded by the females in exchange for food.

I wanna be a bonobo. I wonder if that would automatically make me the lead singer for BO?

Undertoad;317932 wrote:

... In the middle of the match, the above elephant became enraged somehow, threw its riders, and ran off and decided to attack this van.
...

The van is big, it's grey, and it was flirting with his girlfriend. What would you do?

Brianna;317966 wrote:

...Fun Fact: Dolphins are the only animal, besides men and women, who engage in sex just for FUN! Isn't that cool?

Com'on! Don't you mean sharks?

Aliantha;318052 wrote:

Lots of fish are hermaphroditic. I guess that makes them bisexual...in a way.

Auto-bisexual: they can have sex with themselves. :D

no i think that would be auto-heterosexual. I mean if your a hermaphrodite, then you have the workings of both! You know it's Brianna's fault for turning this from a discussion about elephants to the sexual orientation of animals! :lol:

Brianna;318039 wrote:

Ok, you guys have convinced me that dolphins suck.

Oddly, I find it good news, they do. Let's go swimming. :blush:

Anyway, I didn't say dolphins were the smartest, I SAID they are the stewards of the planet.

I hate all of you.

Brianna;317966 wrote:

Anyway, haven't you seen that Star Trek movie or read HitchHikers/Galaxy? Whales and dolphins are the true stewards of this planet :)

there, I've been reduced to quoting myself.

And I heard the dolphins-having-sex-4-fun thing on the effing DISCOVERY channel. I'm gonna sue.

Brianna;318248 wrote:

Anyway, I didn't say dolphins were the smartest, I SAID they are the stewards of the planet.

I hate all of you.

Right behind you,
I see the dolphins.
On you,
I see the glory.
From them,
I get opinions.
From you,
I get the true story.
:blush:

Brianna;318250 wrote:

there, I've been reduced to quoting myself.

And I heard the dolphins-having-sex-4-fun thing on the effing DISCOVERY channel. I'm gonna sue.

Sue? Why, it's true. :cool:

Got to hand it to the mistress, she just wanted it more.

[youtube]AFx9v6DE238[/youtube]

Here is a Video of the Elephant in the picture..

Video
[youtube]K2jK_Y8XGAA&eurl[/youtube]

Hi vincente, welcome to the Cellar. :D
It didn't take them long to get that on youtube.

These people are disgusting idiots... Poor pachyderm.. His pissed and their solution is to throw stones at him. Dipwads..

Welcome Vincente. Oh and thanks..

jinx, *I* heard you about the bonobos.

Sex, it turned out, is the key to the social life of the bonobo. The first suggestion that the sexual behavior of bonobos is different had come from observations at European zoos. Wrapping their findings in Latin, primatologists Eduard Tratz and Heinz Heck reported in 1954 that the chimpanzees at Hellabrun mated more canum (like dogs) and bonobos more hominum (like people). In those days, face-to- face copulation was considered uniquely human, a cultural innovation that needed to be taught to preliterate people (hence the term "missionary position"). These early studies, written in German, were ignored by the international scientific establishment. The bonobo's humanlike sexuality needed to be rediscovered in the 1970s before it became accepted as characteristic of the species.

Bonobos become sexually aroused remarkably easily, and they express this excitement in a variety of mounting positions and genital contacts. Although chimpanzees virtually never adopt face-to-face positions, bonobos do so in one out of three copulations in the wild. Furthermore, the frontal orientation of the bonobo vulva and clitoris strongly suggest that the female genitalia are adapted for this position.

Bonobos do the missionary position one third of the time. They have made sex an integral part of their social interaction, like we wave or shake hands. The females use it to control the social structure of the group. Yada, yada, yada. I see no where, the claim they do it for fun, like dolphins and humans. :confused:

Humans do it for fun?! Where? Who?!

Not Scoutmasters. :p

Did you just call me a human?:eyebrow:

No, no, I'd never make such a heinous accusation. :headshake