# do rhinos stamp out fires? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2009, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414 "2009-07-27T11:31:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![richlrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@richlrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richlrob)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/1 "2009-07-27T11:31:41Z")
In the movie “The Gods must be Crazy”, the male character makes the comment, after having their fire put out by a rhinocerous that “rhinos are the fire patrol of the desert”. I can’t seem to find documentation anywhere else, there is some mention of Asian rhinos exhibiting this behavior. Does anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/2 "2009-07-27T12:53:01Z")
Wait, you mean the character who believed a Coke bottle was a gift from the gods and who trekked to the edge of the world to get rid of it? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/3 "2009-07-27T12:56:08Z")
No, he means the guy who winched the Land Rover up into a tree. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/4 "2009-07-27T13:16:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Wait, you mean the character who believed a Coke bottle was a gift from the gods and who trekked to the edge of the world to get rid of it? No, that guy would know better. He means the _moron_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/5 "2009-07-27T13:55:12Z")
To be exact, smart guys, it was the narrator who made the comment. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/6 "2009-07-27T13:59:32Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > To be exact, smart guys, it was the narrator who made the comment. But…but…but… They _showed_ a rhino putting out a fire! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/7 "2009-07-27T14:12:36Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > But…but…but… They _showed_ a rhino putting out a fire! :eek: I know you’re joking, but for the record the fire-stomping scene was pretty obviously two guys in a rhino suit. I’ve never heard of this as being typical rhino behavior, so I’m pretty confident that the answer is no. The stories of Asian rhinos doing this appear to be legendary. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/8 "2009-07-27T14:24:28Z")
Aren’t you mistaking Rhinos for Bears? ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/9 "2009-07-27T14:31:46Z")
I’d like to see a “Smokey The Rhino” ad campaign. With a shovel and four inch rockabilly cuffs. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/10 "2009-07-27T15:25:54Z")
Q. Why do ducks have flat feet? A. To stamp out forest fires. Q. Why do rhinos have flat feet? A. To stamp out burning ducks. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/11 "2009-07-27T16:19:46Z")
For a serious answer… When I was at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, I took the “Safari” into the center section where the animals were kept. I asked the guide about this (since Rhinos were one of the animals we got to feed from the truck). His answer: no, that was just made up for the movie. J. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/12 "2009-07-27T16:28:00Z")
> [@jharvey963](#): > > For a serious answer… > > When I was at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, I took the “Safari” into the center section where the animals were kept. I asked the guide about this (since Rhinos were one of the animals we got to feed from the truck). > > His answer: no, that was just made up for the movie. > > J. Well, it doesn’t appear to be true, but as **Colibri** alludes to, it’s Asian folklore, which is probably where the screenwriters got it, rather than making it up out of whole cloth. Wiki’s take: > [@](#): > > There are legends about rhinoceros stamping out fire in Malaysia, India, and Burma. The mythical rhinoceros has a special name in Malay, badak api, where badak means rhinoceros and api means fire. The animal would come when a fire is lit in the forest and stamp it out.[22] There are no recent confirmations of this phenomenon. However, this legend has been reinforced by the film The Gods Must Be Crazy, where an African rhinoceros is shown to be putting out two campfires. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/13 "2009-07-27T17:15:42Z")
I don’t know about stamping out fires, but I could easily believe a rhino spraying out a fire. You don’t want to be near the operational end of a rhino when it lets loose. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rhinos-stamp-out-fires/504414/14 "2009-07-27T23:24:43Z")
This was on The Simpsons too. Marge saved Homer from a charging rhino by flipping over her SUV and the rhino immediately went after the burning wreck and tried to stamp it out. That’ll teach me from getting all my info from a cartoon.