# Are elephants really scared of rodents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2000, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913 "2000-11-12T21:10:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bdubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@bdubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdubs)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/1 "2000-11-12T21:10:24Z")
I have been told that Elephants really are scared of rodents, just like the cartoons show us. Apparently, the rationale is that if an elephant is sleeping, a rodent crawling into its ear during the night gives it quite a headache the next morning. Is this true? What’s the real deal on elephants and rodents? ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/2 "2000-11-12T22:06:21Z")
I thought it had something to do with not wanting to squish the little rodents inbetween the pads of their feet. Something like that, but I think that they really do act carefully around small animals. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/3 "2000-11-12T22:53:49Z")
no they’renot really scared of rodents Cecil said it, I believe it, that settles it ---
**Author:** ![bdubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@bdubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdubs)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/4 "2000-11-12T22:58:11Z")
Where dis Cecil say it? Is there a link? I have bets on this you see!!! ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/5 "2000-11-12T23:49:35Z")
Didn’t find the Cecil link, but this has been covered before: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=31704](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=31704) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/6 "2000-11-13T00:06:18Z")
The idea came from an ancient story in which a mouse crawled up an elephant’s trunk, according to [http://bayridge.com/facts01.htm](http://bayridge.com/facts01.htm) I too seem to recall Cecil covering this one, but I can’t find it. Perhaps it was David Feldman in one of his “Imponderables” books. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/7 "2000-11-13T00:14:54Z")
[http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact\_sheets/elephants/elephant3.htm](http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/elephants/elephant3.htm) (source seems reliable) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2000, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-elephants-really-scared-of-rodents/40913/8 "2000-11-13T00:34:11Z")
About the end of World War II, writer George Stimpson took up this topic and said it’s likely the elephant can’t even _see_ a mouse near it. And this isn’t exactly about elephants’ _ears,_ but Stimpson also discussed the notion that an elephant is afraid the mouse will crawl into his _trunk;_ but Stimpson said naturalists dismiss this, saying that a mouse that crawled into an elephant’s trunk would “be promptly blown into the next county.”