# rare water elephant **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569 "2003-05-02T05:08:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569/1 "2003-05-02T05:08:17Z")
I came across [this article](http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=3&id=13215&usrsess=1) about a man who found a “water elephant” in Burma. Unfortunately there is no photograph to accompany this outrageous article but I am curious if there is such a beast. Is there such a creature in nature? Are there animals which meet these specifications and could be considered by the superstitious as being a puny pachyderm? The only reason why I’d give this any credibility is because it’s not Pravda. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569/2 "2003-05-02T05:30:27Z")
Hmmm … an elephant that weighs 300 grams. I’d say that, outside of the possibility that this is an elephant fetus, we’re talking a high dubiosity factor here. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569/3 "2003-05-02T05:36:27Z")
Whatever it is, it’s on the [wrong continent.](http://users.aber.ac.uk/caw1/dragon_saint_george_did_not_kill.htm) (Warning: site linked has “jurassic” sound bite.) ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569/4 "2003-05-02T07:59:16Z")
Hmm… Other than about a trillion dubious cryptozoological treatises alleging that some African creature on this theme exists, the closest thing I could find were a couple of what appear to be Bollywood film reviews by the same person ([here](http://www.lolluexpress.com/magalir.htm) and [here](http://www.lolluexpress.com/ilami.htm) that make reference to …something… with an unfortunate number of broken images. Of course, I dunno that the images would necessarily be very helpful. The second link seems to say that the animal in question is also called “Neer Yannai” in either Hindi or Tamil, but the only hits I get for that anywhere lead back to the same film review page. At least it’s much closer to Burma (if that’s where the carcass came from) than the 9 million hits I got for some delusory African creature, though. In conclusion: I dunno. But at least I spent half an hour looking for it rather than sleeping like a normal person. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569/5 "2003-05-02T15:23:50Z")
Tiny elephants DO exist. See excellent presentation on the subject by Mr. Charles Jones, entitled “Punch Trunk” … ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-water-elephant/172569/6 "2003-05-07T01:54:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Xema \* > \*\*Hmmm … an elephant that weighs 300 grams. I’d say that, outside of the possibility that this is an elephant fetus, we’re talking a high dubiosity factor here. \*\* A [Thai academic](http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.arcview.php3?clid=3&id=78196&usrsess=1) agrees with you. I recently read another article (which I couldn’t retrieve when I Googled) that dismissed previous such “finds” as hoaxes on the order of P.T. Barnum’s [Feejee Mermaid](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/fj_mermaid.html).