Elephant smashes house, then saves crying baby

[Ichingcarpenter]

A rampaging elephant smashed a house in an Indian village on Monday night, but when it heard a crying baby, the animal turned back and carefully removed the debris from the infant’s body.

Dipak Mahato and his wife, Lalita, were eating dinner when they heard cracking and crashing sounds coming from the bedroom.

"We ran over and were shocked to see the wall in pieces and a tusker standing over our baby," Dipak told The Times of India."She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot."

The elephant, which forest officials say has killed three people in the last year, pulled the rubble from the 10-month-old and then headed back into the forest.

"I can't believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door and smashing a wall." Lalita said. "We watched amazed as it gently removed the debris that had fallen on her. It's a miracle."

The couple took their daughter to the hospital where she was treated for external injuries but otherwise found to be in good health.

Conflict has increased in parts of India in recent years because villages have expanded into land that's part of the elephants' migration routes.


http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/elephant-smashes-house-then-saves-crying-baby

[Triana]

1. If someone invaded my home, I'd be pissed too...

...meaning the elephants. People ought to gtfo of their habitat. They deserve a home on Earth too.

[11 Bravo]

7. Simplistic nonsense. Where do you live? Wherever it is, I can guarantee you that ...

at some point in time, numerous animals once occupied the spot in which you currently reside.
Funny how it's always Indians, Africans, or South Americans who are expected to "gtfo" out of an animal habitat.

[Triana]

8. Not really. Humans need to learn to slow down their breeding

and learn to share this earth with other creatures. It's NOT all for THEM.

[11 Bravo]

9. You didn't repond to my point. Should YOU have to relocate, or is it just those ...

who live in certain rural portions of India, Africa, and South America?

[Triana]

11. My point was that humans need to stop occupying ALL the space

and shoving every other species on the planet out. Not that everyone/anyone should have to relocate.

The article stated that some development was build upon elephant migration territory. The question isn't whether humans should all have to relocate from where they've already taken over, but when are they going to STOP taking over the planet from every other species and leave some room for some other living things besides themselves?

I think you missed the point.

[LanternWaste]

12. Far too many people miss the obvious points

"I think you missed the point..."

Many people miss the obvious points as they seem to focus on a fictional pretense of being clever instead...

Environmental stewardship, as you implied, refers to responsible use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices rather than the dogmatic and one-dimensional answer of population relocation (which, ironically, is a simplistic (or simpleton's?) answer by its very definition). A bi-lateral accommodation of niches to the best of our abilities rather than all or nothing.

Your point was truly missed indeed, but truly needed too.

[Triana]

13. Thank you.

Exactly.

[11 Bravo]

15. OK, so gtfo (get the fuck out) of their habitat did NOT mean that humans should relocate?

That's not the way I read it. Had you suggested that humans should stop encroaching on some animal habitats (as you did in a later response to me) I would have been in total agreement. But I was responding to your initial post on this thread.
You seem to feel that I missed the point. I would respectfully suggest that you failed to make it. (Unless gtfo doesn't mean "get the fuck out".)
Perhaps you should have used stfo (stay) or ktfo (keep). Or maybe I really did miss the point.

[TBF]

2. It's interesting that elephants

Have more concern for young humans than repugs do ...

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Elephants Identify Dangerous People by Their Gender, Their Clothes And Even the Language They Speak

There's an abundance of scientific evidence that elephants are whip-smart, feeling creatures, who form complex social networks and who can feel distress (and perhaps even empathy). And researchers recently found that wild elephants are using their intelligence to recognize dangerous humans based on a very specific set of characteristics: gender, smell, clothing and even the langauge they speak.

In Kenya, Maasai men occasionally hunt elephants in retaliation for wounding or killing humans or for raiding crops. Elephants have caught on to this fact. Previous studies, National Geographic reports, have shown that elephants recognize and respond to the Maasai by their bright red robes, while they tend to ignore the brown-clothed Kamba, another ethnic group in the region. If they see a red cloth, the elephants tend to become angry; if they catch the scenet of a Maasai man, they flee the scene.

Most recently, researchers played recordings of various people talking—Maasai men, women and younger boys, and Kamba men—to see how elephants who heard those voices would react. The phrases the people used weren't aggressive, just things like, "Look, an elephant!" NatGeo:




Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/elephants-identify-potentially-dangerous-people-gender-smell-clothes-theyre-wearing-and-even-language-they-speak-180950066/#ZlphbIw7P1vqMQHs.99
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[DeSwiss]

10. +1000

http://www.elephants.com/

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Especially since it's their symbol.

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. Typical Republican.

[DRoseDARs]

6. You're wrong. They don't care about children after they're born. nt

[meow2u3]

14. Four-legged elephants do care about kids after they're born

You're mistaking real elephants for the two-legged ones.

[Crunchy Frog]

17. It's unfortunate that elephants have become the symbolf of the Republican party

as real elephants are absolutely nothing like Republicans.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. Elephants are extremely intelligent and highly sensitive.

It wouldn't surpise me if the elephant had good reason to feel anger and hatred towards humans, especially in view of the encroachment onto their migratory routes.

It wouldn't surprise me either if the elephant was able to recognize the innocence of the infant, and display sympathy and concern rather than anger.

I feel really terrible about the amount of suffering that our species has inflicted on theirs, especially in view of their ability to conceptualize it, at least to a degree.