Mythbusters: Are elephants afraid of mice?

[MrHuntervad]

Pretty good 240 vid, and win.

[danielmedina630]

WOW



[mboymanuel]

The rat stepped on poop, then he got into his mouth.... ._.

[pogpogcasino]

Hi 240p, where have you been lately???

[system0system0]

I wonder where evoution did it go to fobia of a mouse that it ingreaned in the elepehants dna. The miracle of nature of science of the universe is amazing, scary, wondering, saddning.

[MFamilyLivingRoom]

@system0system0 evolution is a theory of fools

[bendybob4]

@jrymanz did you not watch the video? They moved the dung without the mouse in it and nothing happened

[Jrymanz]

Maybe they are scared that this rock just magically rolled over right when they got close to it.

[piglood]

Why are there common loon calls in the background?!?!?

[ThePurpleSpartan]

I do the same thing around wasps and bees. Don't feel bad, elephants. :3

[cybertek3188]

They didn't prove that elephants are afraid of mice. That could mean they are cautious about smaller animals and they don't want to harm another animal. I still think that elephants fearing mice is just a myth.

[StrikeDuelist]

@cybertek3188 could be true, maybe he like "wooops, alittle animal, i dont wanna walk on him..." they should have tryed with a frog or other small animals too :P

[Zeemas]

its not like the elephants are scared of it, they are scared they would kill the tiny little mouse because they are bigger than it. Elephants are friendly, gentle creatures :D

[HoverboardFan14]

mice r so cute :)

[IDontDoDrumCovers]

what if its more scared of hurting the mouse rather being actually scared of it?

[naldentester]

Why are they in winter coats?

[CamiloSanchez1979]

No wonder why the elephant I am married to almost had a heart attack last time she saw a mouse. At least I know how to trigger it now.

[SuperDrRockzo]

@CamiloSanchez1979 Zing!

[MrBoesen]

Incredible... But think about, many humans are also afraid of small spiders :/

[amysheahan1]

i know right

[2c1496]

long way to go to bust a myth

[ILOVEMINECRAFTFUL]

I saw the mouse and I said "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

[Pisces298]

Aw, what a cutie mice

[Tobius11]

its in africa ?...is it that cold there ?

[3FLYTE]

omG!

[MrBloodyBat]

I'm jealous as hell!! they got to pet a friggin elephant! I want, I want, I want!!!

[Georgeous129]

wow, that was awesome! and you could see in the one with both elephants the one on camera actually moves its trunk out of the way of the mouse, fantastic work MBs!

[fishingwiththenerd]

2:10 Slingshot! LOL

[TheLittleBigChannel1]

Well I guess we kinda react like the elephants too spiders most people are afraid of them.

[koyotegambit]

This actually is amazing. I would never believe this was true.

[Waffle164]

If you were asian enough you would know why from a simple board game. The elephant was scared of the mouse because a mouse can kill an elephant by simply entering his ears and fiddling inside of it.

[Mud69Pie]

elephant didn't want to step the pop

[DeathKitty123456]

i would love to know how they caught the mouse again... twice

[heathovc]

@DeathKitty123456 a second mouse?

[DeathKitty123456]

@heathovc i thought that but it looks like the same mouse, and i know you can get lots of white mice but they have different features

[KiteSwift]

@DeathKitty123456 I think they only used one mouse - a very tame mouse. It didn't seem bothered about running away when the elephant came over, so i'm sure it was happily scooped up by the guys again.

[HiddenFacedMatt]

Given that mice are known to spread disease, who can blame elephants for being afraid of them?

[BaalsJurisdiction]

ARE YOU SERIOUS AWESOME LOL

[TheDarkStar9966]

Maybe the reason why this happened is the same as why some people are afraid of mice too. Although we're bigger than it.

[BaalsJurisdiction]

@TheDarkStar9966 lol ! 'Elephant': WOAH WHAT'S THAT UGLY THING WITH FUR OMG HONEY GET THE BROOM

[DigitalHaze65536]

Ewwww.......he let a mouse that had been in dung in his mouth!

[jp3813]

@DigitalHaze65536 Are you sure that was after he put it in the dung?

[chunkymilk]

The elephant backed away because it saw a dung pile move by itself.

[BeyondFlight]

@chunkymilk did you watch the whole vid...>_>

[TerraXD001]

@chunkymilk Nah. Did you watch the whole video?

In the second attempt (no mouse) the elephant had no reaction.

[The007exterminator]

@TerraXD001 Maybe they could be scared of the noise...

[system0system0]

@TerraXD001 your wrong he moved in the second attempt.

[KateMcT]

@chunkymilk Actually, elephants are used to seeing their dung move due to dung beetles, so that wouldn't be strange and when they rolled the dung without the mouse, the elephant didn't react.

[desdes24]

cute lil white mouse AWW i want him as my pet!!

[desdes24]

eeks what a cute mice!!!

[S0XF0X]

@JUGZSHoTZ Why? In an experiment, controls must me taken in order to help observe possible correlations/causations. For the elephant to have been introduced to the mouse in the first place would alter the outcome, thus making the whole experiment rendered useless. The elephant and this mouse have never met. Also, if they had been "friends", the elephant wouldn't avoid the mouse. It would have stopped, sniffed at it with it's trunk, and continued on as normal.

[InfiniteGXT]

Elephant: NOPE, nope nope nope nope nope

[lees3107]

They should try a rat too and different small mammals

[dirtymike31]

maybe it was chuck norris' mouse

[trainsforever8]

hes proly scared to squash it

[S0XF0X]

I don't think the fear from the elephants is caused by the mouse, but by the fact that it's white. In nature, animals that stand out or have bright colors, are usually dangerous in some way. That's why skunks have those white stripes; it's a warning that this animal is dangerous. If the elephant sees a white mouse, it could be thinking it's dangerous in some way, and thus avoids crossing it's path.

[anglicky69]

@S0XF0X that is great reasoning and makes a lot of sense.

[S0XF0X]

@anglicky69 Thank you! I thought of it because I make the same expression as that elephant when I see a skunk, lol!

[Pisces298]

@S0XF0X then maybe they should try with black mice

[ZIRamirez23]

7:24 lol the elephant (:

[GreekLandO]

6:11 omg he crashed the mouse's tail xD

[Takeatour898]

Really cool did u see the elephant

[Slic3R1]

probably got scared of the fake poo because you don't see a moving poo very often

[S0XF0X]

@Slic3R1 They tested that, and the elephant took notice of the dung moving, but it didn't react the same (by moving away from it).

[secrets18]

Elephants are afraid of mice because they are small enough they could climb into the elephants trunk and the elephant suffocates.

[YoumingMa]

elephants were not afraid of the mouse until it took an arrow in the knee.

[TejasM14]

In India we have a mythological fable where an elephant god (elephant head, human body) uses a mouse as his choice of transport animal.

[juicekid21]

The Elephant was probably scared to stepping in its own shit. Lol

[fun1k]

@juicekid21 lol, i would bet he doesn't give a fuck if he stand in his own shit :D

[hexocain]

Technically what they proved was that elephants are apprehensive of little white things they've never seen before... but I guess that counts as 'plausible', since that may be the basis of the myth that elephants are afraid of mice.

[8bobthebuilder]

so if you are in the wild and there are elephants areound, make sure you've got some mice at hand. :)

[Gibix]

Brix were shat that day.

[FishLeesh]

Im surprised they didn't send a cannonball through the elephant.

[SHHSquirrel]

Yeah, umm... Elephants are far more dangerous than sharks. Stupid narrator

[21centuryg]

maybe it just walked around the mouse because it has never seen a white mouse before.

[seanfitch85]

i wonder what that mouth at the beginning is used for :)

[Savchenkov1]

@seanfitch85 A really, really big #### ?

[qle41192]

this is like how some human are afraid of cocroach

[RandyDuhAzn]

how can you get the mouse close to the elephant? fuckin baseball bat

[kristycyw]

cute mouse!!

[kristycyw]

my sis freaks when she sees flies on the grnd

[MrChannnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

CMON... I would be afraid if something white and moving pops out of no where.

[Verminator4]

I think it's that the mouse was a white mouse that stuck out from the ground. Many animals that make themselves obviously visible are poisonous.

[Murder0redruM]

maybe its not that the elephant is afraid but instead he and the mouse are such good buddies that the elephant doesnt wanna accidently squish the mouse coz he so clumsy

[3FLYTE]

@Murder0redruM  That is true. Elephants don't want to step on live things.

[EmmaBeeba]

@Murder0redruM I think you may be right :)

[dfaster809]

how so something so big can be scared of something so small. that make no sense

[nguyenboy1]

@dfaster809 well, in my opinion, Elephants afraid of mice like some people afraid of cockroaches or spiders or something small. You see mouse is small indeed, but it move very fast. It can crawls around the elephant, creeps into its ear or its nose or anywhere in its body.

[demeterschild87]

@dfaster809 Bees.

[BeevaLaMex]

I have another theory, Elephants are smart enough to recognize a small animal which is not a threat, and also they are smart enough so they are being careful not to crush them by walking away. I mean, that is plausible too. Elephants are very smart too, I won't say ape smart.

[Kiniler]

@BeevaLaMex Elephants are smart but why would they care at all, actually its been proven that only humans feel empathy. I think its fear of tripping/injure. Imagine if they stepped on a turtle or a porcupine it might get hurt or even stumble and being so huge tripping could be quite dangerous.

[demeterschild87]

@Kiniler no way an elephant could trip on a mouse.

[Fatroider3]

@Kiniler It's been proven that only humans feel empathy? It has in fact been proven that even rodents feel empathy

[Kiniler]

@Fatroider3 Really? I didnt know about that, how would you go about proving something like that? Also that would seem like a very unnessescary trait for a rodent in my honest opinion. :p

[RMJ1984]

They should try this with a big hairy spider, i wonder if the Elephant would squish that.

Its kinda awesome how the elephant didn wanna risk stepping on the mouse, thats nature for you :) so amazing.

[Epsilonic]

I wouldn't really say that the elephant was afraid of the mouse, just more that it didn't want to harm it considering it wasn't a threat.

[stevilei]

... i think it was the movement of the dung not the mouse .. common myth busters your supposed to be better than this ... don't start getting lazy

[colle89]

@stevilei

I thought so too for a while, but then they tested that, around 5:20, and it didn't seem to be the case.

[stevilei]

@colle89 thats what i get for not watching the whole vid lol my bad

[spuebear]

They should try a gangbanger from Harlem or LA. You couldn't tell them from a pile of dung and I'd be cautious of those, too.

[DanielKohbad]

of course the elephant get's scared when a mouse comes out like that even though it's small. if i was walking by myself in a big wide place and something popped up from a cup I'd also get shocked

[dmaninthewall]

maby the elephant is just polite he dont want to sqush the mouse he dont look

so scared

[kykyru]

Fun fact:I was reading a book and it said once a mouse went up into a elephants trunk, and the elephant died from in albe to get air, thats where this came from.

[Bram25]

I think the elephant was a reincarnation of Dumbo, and the mouse was actually Timothy Mouse!

[YvesWonGhz17]

ROFL!

[wgh999]

I think its like us seeing a spider. Their brains are programmed to be mortified by little furry things.

[minimuppet]

Is the guy in the beret a retard?

[InternationalGIGN]

@minimuppet Just incase you didn't know, that "retard with the beret" is actually as scientist and one of the currently smartest people in San Francisco. So you watch your mouth about calling a scientist a retard, got it dude?

[minimuppet]

@InternationalGIGN Cool story brah.

[HoverboardFan14]

@minimuppet no

[litojonny]

....he puts the mouse under poop then lets it crawl on his face.......

[KingCalliber]

Elephants avoid mice because they can crawl up their trunks and get stuck, eventually killing both animals. If you notice, the first thing the elephant does when it recognizes the mouse is move its trunk out of the way.

[litojonny]

@KingCalliber or... the trunk is how the elephant smells

wouldn't you move your nose first if your smelling poop?

[GiantPetRat]

Jesus Christ on a bike, that mouse is ADORABLE.

[bacil0611]

Mice are cute.

[shootingmen]

its fking stupid , the elephant may juz be scared that the black thing flipped over , and they may feel something suspicious

[Influx27]

@shootingmen I think their test group (no mouse under dung) suggests otherwise.

[67crow76]

@shootingmen Did you not see the rest of the video? They tried it without the mouse and the elephant didn't take any notice.

[pinkdevil97]

the poor farking mouse >:l

[MrPepsicola123]

it was probably scared of seeing random shit flip over and seeing a fucking mouse under. 

[jameshetfieldserbia]

7:01 this mouse has been inside elephant poo, and now it's in Adam's mouth

[norteamericana100]

Er , sir , the mouse in your mouth just came out the shit ball

[slovenedudebmwlover]

slingshot! XD

[pennyfortheguy]

Elephants are perfectly alright with dung beetles instead

[SinerAthin]

Fear of Moses for the win!

[jameschoi999]

their plan is smart. set up well.

me? ill just throw the mice at them .____.

[waddakhan]

i want to be a part of myth busters cuz i'm the only myth buster in the area...and as an example i ask.:what if the elephant was afraid of the mouse's death instead of its own?

[wbcordeiro]

The mouse gets into their trump causing death, that's why they avoid the little animal.

[pettyofficer30]

@wbcordeiro Bullshit! Do you have any facts on the stupid shit you just typed?

[HeartsEcho]

I honestly just think that the elephant was just conscious of the mouse being there and didn't want to step on it, so it moved out of its way.

[lunabrd]

isn't there a problem with introducing a foreign species (the mouse)?

[narutoboy2010]

@lunabrd They're probably all male mice.

[simpleman12182]

The elephant is not afraid of the mouse, it doesn't like the noise the mouse makes...

[kurt23407]

@simpleman12182 Thats most stupidest prediction.

[storieswithoutborder]

I really hope that the mouse that went in his mouth was not the one that they placed in the ball of elephant dung.

[Syeleiswatching]

somewhere I heard they are scared of "small unidentifiable noises" I couldn't tell if the mouse squealed or not though.

[darkmagefire]

i gurantee the mouse was like why the hell am i in a ball of shit!

[Dr3Lungs]

dude the mouse was in a ball of dung, then he put the mouse almost in his mouth. Sick.

[ajiconal]

lol fail all the way to africa they could of just go to the zoo

[D4ddyf4ts4ck244]

240p we meet again.

[ianlim69]

The elepheants are so big how can the elephants be afaid of a mice

[98yazzie]

I think they are not "afraid" of mice and they do not fear them they are just big softies and don't want to hurt an innocent small animal.

[0Fingolfin0]

In Europe there is a mammal related to the fox which lives in small holes in the ground, horses are known to be very frightened by them even though they are only about 15 cm long. the eldery people say that the small animal will attack a horse if it gets close to it's den, and when it attacks it bites at the genitals. I believe there is something similar here.

[TarpitCarnivore79]

Not "afraid" of mice; cautious of mice, or any other small creature on the ground, mice included. It was clearly a reaction to avoid steping on the mouse for whatever reason.

[realrightchris]

@TarpitCarnivore79 No the 1st time the elephant clearly backed up man

[TarpitCarnivore79]

@realrightchris Yes because it's CAUTIOUS of the mouse, not "AFRAID" like everyone keeps saying. I'd imagine because of how extremly sensitive the elephant pads are, they probably avoid steping on anything skittering across the ground- whether it be tiny (seemingly) harmless mouse, or a deadly scorpion. Because the elephant "clearly backed up man" does not dictate that it feared the mouse.

[grridontknow]

@FalconCrestlover73 it's not real because?

[Auriansmule]

Dude that mouse was in his mouth after it was under elephant shit o.O

[TheMrIce101]

Maybe the elephants didnt wanna squish the little guy

[FurnaceMastaah]

when the elephant I actually backed away I went O_O till the end of the video

[view1989]

i think they should try others small animals.. 

[sonyfier]

Probably because elephants forage with their trunk. Can you imagine the discomfort and irritation for the elephant if it managed to get a mouse in it's nostrils? Same thing on a smaller scale if insects get near our ears of nostrils.

[KeeshIScrazy]

I feel bad for that mouse

[mrsrhondabaker]

Maybe they just didn't want to squish the little mouse :)

[straaler5]

i love mice, they're the cute versions of rats.

[narutofan9tf]

0:10 some sort of sex toy?

[Ndkiller]

MY reason behind this is. elephnat have very sensitive ears , the mouse have very low fequency voice , this might be the reason why the elephants scared.

i have seen it in few videos if you have to take a phone near a elephants they will go nuts.

[Ndkiller]

@Ndkiller MY reason behind this is. elephnat have very sensitive ears , the mouse have very low fequency voice , this might be the reason why the elephants scared.

i have seen it in few videos if you have to take a phone near a elephants they will go nuts.

[psychedashell]

@Ndkiller A zoo keeper told me once that it wasn't fear so much as frustration and annoyance. A mouse is a small animal that you usually only catch in the corner of your eye, the elephant catches this movement and tries to find what's happening, the mouse gets under jumbo's feet and the elephant does the crazy dance trying to find it. I'm not afraid of mice, but they're hard to catch because you don't particularly want to smoosh them and get blood all over the place.

[summersr187]

i always wanted to kno y they were scared of mice some1 told me it was because the elephants know mice can crawl up there trunk and kill them somehow i didnt believe them though

[jercubsfan]

my dog is scared of my hamster...

[JRV95]

What if a disease carried by rodents caused a huge number of death in the elephant populationn a long time ago and as a result they are very cautious of them?

I mean, isn't that the subconcious reason for why humans hate rats and subsequently mice? The Black Plague?

[thelordmemnoch]

@JRV95 I don't agree with you, but I like the way you think and it's very plausible. I'm thrown in with the group that believes that small furry things can get stuck in the trunk of the elephant and suffocate them and they have developed a very real caution towards mice.

[blasto73]

why though?

[THENOSAUR]

2:45 the mice died on the elephant shit

[metaRLinfo]

@THENOSAUR it was a fake one..

[THENOSAUR]

@metaRLinfo I know

[spl0uf]

0:08: sex toy?

[123highgear]

The mice can actually climb up the snout of the elephant whitch can sufficate it