in fairy tales and myths of many peoples there is the legend of the giant pants and a small or even a small creature, wins giant.Let us recall the biblical myth of the giant Goliath, which killed a stone from a sling young David.Ancient myths about small Braves are reflected in the present example, the mouse cartoon "Tom and Jerry" always wins the cat, although in real life such an outcome of the battle between these animals is hardly possible.Then why elephants are afraid of mice?What is it - a myth or truth?
People are treated with great respect to the opinions of respected scholars.Aristotle wrote that six spider legs - and it was considered a fact until Francis Bacon.Two thousand years ago, the historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote that elephants are afraid of mice, and there are still many share this view.According to Pliny, the mighty African giants do not want to eat food that stinks mice.Like, the whole herd of them go on a flight at the sight of a mouse only, appeared before them.Could it be and, more importantly, why?
Roman scholar has put forward several versions explaining why elephants are afraid of mice.According to one of them, vile rodents gnaw interdigital connection elephants, making their paws are vulnerable.Small nimble animals manage to gnaw heels at night elephants and even to arrange it yourself mink to warm the gigantic body raises cubs!So the elephants prefer to sleep standing up - not to tempt fate.Moreover, Pliny asserted that mice tend to sneak into the trunk of the giants, why they may suffocate.Thus, even in these intelligent animals on the reflex level there is an insurmountable fear of these kids.
opinion of eminent scientists believed immutable, except that people were looking for further explanations as to why elephants are afraid of mice.But in Europe, there were circuses and zoos, which began to keep elephants.Then the keepers of the animals and noticed that near the cages and enclosures with the Giants always infest the mouse.This is not surprising: the elephants are not the sharpest vision, often leave pieces of feed (bran, fruits and root vegetables), and that for such a giant baby, for a small little animals - food for a week.However, people saw that the elephants calmly react to the tiny neighboring cage.However, rodent food they did not eat, but on the other hand - and you would have to eat a meal in which something is moving?As soon as the mouse off an armful of hay, as a powerful animal began to chew it calmly.
That's when people seriously think: Do elephants are afraid of mice?Steel research.Let them rodents in the path of the giant stage.If short-sighted giants saw tiny animals, they carefully stepped over them or passed it by, but often found their mouse death under huge paws.People have tried to show the mouse an elephant, but it is contrary to Pliny the Elder, and not started back showed no panic, but rather drawn to her trunk to sniff an unfamiliar animal, and then lost all interest in him.Even if you let the rat walk around the back of the mighty giant, and he did not lead his ear.And if suddenly a mouse pleases to commit suicide and to this end she gets into the elephant's trunk, giant sneeze is just like a tiny animal takes off a couple of meters.
Maybe scientists guessed the secret of why elephants are afraid of mice, lies not in the rodent, and in a sudden they appear?Or they squeak?In the largest land animals is well developed hearing and heard the mouse squeak, they really listened warily.But then calm returned to them, and they continue to do their own thing.What's the matter?Scientists have only recently discovered the riddle.Elephants - at least, African - afraid of the honey bee, which is found on this continent.Bees live in huge colonies of several thousand insects.The buzz of a bee means that there are others nearby.A contact with a wild swarm of angry bees elephants oh as do not want.Hence the conclusion of scientists: he heard a mouse squeak, cautious giants listened intently - not whether the bees?
