View Single Post
Old 12-20-2009, 09:14 AM   #54
Andsigil
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
 
Andsigil's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: The Deepest Forges of Ered Luin
Posts: 746
Andsigil is a guest of Tom Bombadil.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun View Post
And Oliphaunts were rather like elephants: faily harmless when left alone, but trainable to become aggresive and violent.
Actually, real elephants are very territorial and quite aggressive without training.

One example of this behavior comes to mind. In 1937, elephants were devastating the farmers of Mozambique. They were protected then and had seriously grown in numbers to the point where in some areas they had actually started to take over the farmlands. People were starving to death in the countryside because elephants were rampaging through their crops and eating them before they could be harvested. When the native Mozambiquans tried to shoo them away with sticks or thrown rocks, they got trampled and/or gored. Hundreds of people died this way alone, while thousands of others were starving.

It got so bad that the Mozambique government opened elephant hunting on an unlimited basis for a few years.

How's that for thread drift: forum reputation --> elephant behavior.
__________________
Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depression in the world consciousness.

Last edited by Andsigil; 12-20-2009 at 09:37 AM.
Andsigil is offline   Reply With Quote