True or False: Elephants cry when they feel pain (big hankies at weddings and slushy movies?)
It has long been a theory of mine that you only notice elephant tears when you want to believe that they might be crying, if they have been recently separated from a friend elephant or when physically hurt and, on several occasions (when I was young and foolish), when I was about to leave camps for a long period - you might choose to forgive me for wondering if the water on the face wasn't down to her sensing that my bags were packed and the monsoon leave was about upon me.
You will have to forgive me for not bursting the bubble of guests who, while the Golden Triangle Taxi sits there, engine revving, horn tooting, notice a reciprocal wet face when come down for a final hug.
Until now.
This bubble bursting, this following piece of trivia, I must put down to our recent Vegetarian Veterinarian Visitors. One of the good things about (V - or not).V.V's is that they are thirsty for knowledge, love to read and when it rains or when there are no guests (where are you all by the way?) come digging around in the office.
Books that, being so formidable, have long found other uses - holding doors open, keeping snooker tables in the air, multi-gym weights, elephant tieing posts, counter weights to keep the tractor's front wheels on the ground etc. - are mopped up with ease and with excitement by young and eager brains.
So here is the answer... (pay attention oh writers of pub quizzes, oh folks who yearn to prove the elephants' unique nature, oh trivia buffs in it for the fun....)
...elephants are apparently the only animal that does not possess "a lacrimal apparatus. Tear films simply flow towards the medial canthus and exit along a groove in the skin."
Water on the cheeks of elephants is not a sign of emotional distress or physical pain (though, of course, excessive water can point to an eye infection - the tome itself doesn't describe whether the lack of actual tear ducts allows for increased tear flow in dusty or chemical atmosphere), your ele may well be about to miss you but, unfortunately, she's not going to show it that way - like the e-mail from your boss, the tears are just always there, you only notice them when you want to.
Apparently, in common with all other animals, our tear film, the bit that normally keeps our eyes clean whilst not spilling down embarrasingly our cheeks, disappears down a hole in the lower eyelid and ends up in the nose somewhere - I didn't know that either.
Incidentally, and another piece of trivia that I think I have previously commented upon, the tome also mentions that the jury is out on the elephants' ability to perceive colour, officially it is "still unknown with arguments on both sides" so there you go - any young university graduate looking make his/her name in the field of Elephant Colour Perception? You bring the swatch card and I'll bring the eles.
You don't even have to be a vegetarian.
You will have to forgive me for not bursting the bubble of guests who, while the Golden Triangle Taxi sits there, engine revving, horn tooting, notice a reciprocal wet face when come down for a final hug.
Until now.
This bubble bursting, this following piece of trivia, I must put down to our recent Vegetarian Veterinarian Visitors. One of the good things about (V - or not).V.V's is that they are thirsty for knowledge, love to read and when it rains or when there are no guests (where are you all by the way?) come digging around in the office.
Books that, being so formidable, have long found other uses - holding doors open, keeping snooker tables in the air, multi-gym weights, elephant tieing posts, counter weights to keep the tractor's front wheels on the ground etc. - are mopped up with ease and with excitement by young and eager brains.
So here is the answer... (pay attention oh writers of pub quizzes, oh folks who yearn to prove the elephants' unique nature, oh trivia buffs in it for the fun....)
...elephants are apparently the only animal that does not possess "a lacrimal apparatus. Tear films simply flow towards the medial canthus and exit along a groove in the skin."
Water on the cheeks of elephants is not a sign of emotional distress or physical pain (though, of course, excessive water can point to an eye infection - the tome itself doesn't describe whether the lack of actual tear ducts allows for increased tear flow in dusty or chemical atmosphere), your ele may well be about to miss you but, unfortunately, she's not going to show it that way - like the e-mail from your boss, the tears are just always there, you only notice them when you want to.
Apparently, in common with all other animals, our tear film, the bit that normally keeps our eyes clean whilst not spilling down embarrasingly our cheeks, disappears down a hole in the lower eyelid and ends up in the nose somewhere - I didn't know that either.
Incidentally, and another piece of trivia that I think I have previously commented upon, the tome also mentions that the jury is out on the elephants' ability to perceive colour, officially it is "still unknown with arguments on both sides" so there you go - any young university graduate looking make his/her name in the field of Elephant Colour Perception? You bring the swatch card and I'll bring the eles.
You don't even have to be a vegetarian.
Posted by John Roberts at Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:07:00 GMT 
Categories: Golden Triangle Elephants, Public Service Announcement
Categories: Golden Triangle Elephants, Public Service Announcement
and I've been wondering why Bua Tong has had excess tearing for the last several months... if not emotional, and happy for that, maybe seasonal?
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