# Animals capable of killing elephants **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207 "2004-09-26T22:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/61 "2004-09-28T18:59:02Z")
Cite? Since you’re a guest, I’ll explain what that means around here. It’s like “Sez who?” – or more “Prove it”, i.e. What evidence do you offer for any of this? I don’t mean this in a snarky sense. Clearly this thread has long since gone tongue-in-cheek. I just thought that since you were a guest, I’d let you know the lay of the land, because a response like this in many GQ threads could have you waking up with… er… a member of some imaginary African Tribe waking you with a sword in your gut to prove his mad Doper skillz to his tribe. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/62 "2004-09-28T19:21:24Z")
Yes, I mean not to be snarky. I’m just curious, I’d love to see if any of that is documented. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/63 "2004-09-28T23:38:58Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > And there are [Elephants who regularly swim between ocean islands](http://www.far-away.net/andamans.htm) (islands that aren’t very far apart, mind you), so it’s at least _theoretically_ possible for them to be attacked by large marine predators capable of killing them. (Even if it’s not very freakin’ likely.) Would a toothed whale be capable of grabbing an unfortunate elephant and dragging it under? (Sad though it is to combine two of my favourite mammals like that ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/64 "2004-09-29T02:04:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Salt water crocodiles get pretty freaking big (6 m or more, 1000kg). While certainly much smaller than the elephant I can see one (desparately hungry) ambushing an elephant crossing water a little too deep and doing some serious damage. I once saw an animal documentary on tv about this (so can’t give any cites). Apparently crocs and elephants sometimes share the same waterholes in Africa. The crocs would lie in wait for cows to come and drink and then grab them when they come near but the elephants would just wander around in the waterhole without a care in the world. The narrator said that a big croc could easily handle a baby elephant but it is not unknown for an elephant to retaliate by picking the crocodile up in it’s trunk, banging it against a tree a few times and then stomping on it. So, after thousands of years of this, elephants and crocs generally leave each other alone. Of course this doesn’t deal with saltwater crocs which are huge, badass mofos. Although I think that an elephant would still be able to handle one. My suggestion would be a giraffe - it could stand behind a tall fence where the elephant couldn’t get to it and reach over gradually nibbling it to death. Sure it might take 20 years for the giraffe to nibble enough off but the OP never gave a time limit. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/65 "2004-09-30T12:29:21Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > As the whimsical responses suggest, it might be best to confine this to actual cases of elephants being killed. > > It has already been noted that humans were capable of this well before they had guns. In _Man-Eaters of Kumaon_, Jim Corbett relates a case in which two tigers killed an indian elephant. He makes it clear that this was most unusual. That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. An actual case instead of idle speculation! Thanks! It is impressive that tigers could accomplish such a feat! ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/66 "2004-09-30T13:42:10Z")
> [@KP](#): > > Though I certainly can’t think of a viable candidate who would actually attack an elephant in the wild (with any frequency), elephant herds certainly _act_ like they have predators, even in early colonial accounts. It really blows my mind to think that those long-established, seemingly instinctive, herd behaviors [e.g. sentinels, etc.] might be designed to protect against _us_ – though humans and/or their ancestors have been as much a part of the elephant’s natural habitat as any other animal. I am not a zoologist, but I think this behavior is mainly oriented toward protecting young elephants, especially calves which are still vulnerable to predators. Lions, for instance, will take down an elephant calf if they can get to it–the adult elephants are what stands in their way. I’m reminded of a program I saw a few months ago (I think it was a PBS show like Nova, but I can’t recall for certain). It was a documentary about a particular lioness, and in one segment a herd of elephants came across her and her cubs while they were resting. The lioness fled with one or two cubs, but couldn’t rescue them all–the remaining cubs were abandoned to their fate, which consisted of getting stomped on and crushed to death by the elephants. The narrator explained that the elephants were thus eliminating potential predators of elephant calves–IOW, killing the lion babies before they could grow up and kill any elephant babies. As that episode demonstrates, (adult) elephants are badass. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/67 "2004-09-30T20:55:41Z")
Right now there is a [great white shark](http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a3TZpHWjDW5U&refer=us) stuck in a Massachusets coast inlet. As strange as that is, lets assume an elephant escaped from a nearby zoo and is taking a recreational bath in the same inlet. I bet that great white would rip his ass to pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/68 "2004-10-01T02:47:36Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > Right now there is a [great white shark](http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a3TZpHWjDW5U&refer=us) stuck in a Massachusets coast inlet. As strange as that is, lets assume an elephant escaped from a nearby zoo and is taking a recreational bath in the same inlet. I bet that great white would rip his ass to pieces. Do great white sharks attack big animals like whales (or elephants)? I thought they usually went after things like seals. If a great white did decide to attack an elephant, it might take a big bite out of a leg or other appendage. Since sharks don’t kill for the sake of killing, I don’t see why it would continue to attack the elephant. Maybe a school of great white sharks could do the job, but great whites don’t travel in schools, as far as I know. How about a great white accompanied by a very large school of piranha? ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/69 "2004-10-01T03:25:20Z")
Just a couple days ago I was listening to a researcher/photographer on the radio working in Africa telling about how he had observed one particular pride of lions that have learned to hunt elephants. It takes several of them to do it, but it can be done. Most lions don’t attack healthy elephants though. One on one I doubt a big cat could kill a healthy elephant unless it got _very_ lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/70 "2004-10-01T06:17:39Z")
How about a grizzly bear? Aren’t they supposed to be pretty nasty? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/71 "2004-10-01T06:33:16Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > Maybe a school of great white sharks could do the job, but great whites don’t travel in schools, as far as I know. How about a great white accompanied by a very large school of piranha? I don’t have a cite (because I have a memory like a sieve) but I watched a doco about a year ago where great whites had been tagged with radar tags. They were feeding around a small island and showed a level of co-operation and school like behaviour that surprised the researchers. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/73 "2004-10-01T18:23:29Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > How about a great white accompanied by a very large school of piranha? Do the pirahna have frickin’ lasers on their heads? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/74 "2004-10-01T21:23:15Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Do the pirahna have frickin’ lasers on their heads? Has anyone worked out the whole “cow units” thing? (You know, you always read that a school of pirahna can skeletonize a cow in so many seconds.) ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/75 "2004-10-02T00:38:57Z")
I think, if a pride of lions went after a solitary elephant and could gang up on it enough to injure it seriously (gut wound, leg wound so it could not walk, serious trunk injury so it could not feed itself or drink water)…if they waited it out, it would die in a few days. Or a bit longer, waiting for infection to overcome it. For that matter, a cape buffalo could probably inflict a nasty enough injury to bring about eventual death. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/76 "2004-10-02T02:04:21Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Do the pirahna have frickin’ lasers on their heads? My thinking was that the piranha wouldn’t be able to bite through the elephant’s hide, but once there was a would they could go to work. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/77 "2004-10-05T06:37:46Z")
Admittedly it’s a tourism link, but it looks like Lions can: [http://www.orient-express.com/web/ogam/ogam\_c1\_sightings.jsp](http://www.orient-express.com/web/ogam/ogam_c1_sightings.jsp) ---
**Author:** ![Cardboard\_BOX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Cardboard\_BOX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardboard_BOX)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/78 "2004-10-05T07:02:32Z")
Locust! ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/79 "2004-10-05T12:24:42Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > Maybe a school of great white sharks could do the job, but great whites don’t travel in schools, as far as I know. I remember seeing a Discovery Channel thing during Shark Week about how sharks gather around floating whale carcasses and gorge themselves and then have orgies, and how the dead whales may function as breeding grounds for sharks that are normally thought to be solitary, like great whites. So maybe an elephant, after being wounded by one shark, would attract others for a smaller version of the gorging’n’mating frenzy. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/80 "2004-10-05T15:12:51Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > I find it highly doubtful any snake in the world could swallow a full grown bull elephant. I couldn’t let this one go without linking to [this children’s classic](http://www.optimnem.co.uk/bilingual_LittlePrince.htm). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207/81 "2004-10-05T15:39:14Z")
Well, I believe that [Mrs Mittelschmerz of Dundee](http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/python/Scripts/PreviousRecord/StakeYourClaims) claims _she_ can. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-capable-of-killing-elephants/266207.md?page=3)