# Two-Trunked Elephants in Science Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198 "2013-04-09T02:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/1 "2013-04-09T02:32:04Z")
I’ve been reading L. Sprague de Camp’s _The Hand of Zei_, and the cover depicts an alien two-trunked elephant being used in place of a locomotive on the low-tech world of Krishna. The 1982 cover depicts something that actually occurs in the book: [![](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/4/43/THHNDFZHDR1982.jpg) ](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/4/43/THHNDFZHDR1982.jpg) This made me recall that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournbelle had created a race of invading two-trunked elephant-like valiens, the Fithp, for _Footfall_ [![](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/f/f5/BKTG12392.jpg) ](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/f/f5/BKTG12392.jpg) > **[WTF Sci-Fi Book Covers: Footfall](https://cheezburger.com/7055469056)** > > WTF Sci-Fi Book Covers: Footfall - Syndicated LOLs Also, the Slongorn, one of the alien races in Jack Chalker’s _well World_ series, look like red elephants with two trunks 9but no arms/front legs). What is it with SF writers and two-trunked elephants? Is this one of those cases where this is just a subtle variation on the Earthly original, just different enough to scream “Alien!” without seeming too _outre_? Are there any other examples? I was surprised to find that there has been at least one real-life two-trunked elepant, whose stuffede head is preserved at the Ripley’e Believe-it-or-Not “Odditorium” in San Antonio: > **[TWO-TRUNKS, MEET HUMPHREY!](https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2010/11/two-trunks-meet-humphrey.html)** > > ShukerNature explores cryptozoology & animal mythology - bigfoot, chupacabras, yeti, vampires, sea monsters, Nessie, sasquatch, dragons, mystery cats. [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/photo-worlds-largest-and-most-interactive-ripleys-believe-it-or-not-odditorium-opens-in-san-antonio-57114577.html](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/photo-worlds-largest-and-most-interactive-ripleys-believe-it-or-not-odditorium-opens-in-san-antonio-57114577.html) …and this picture claims to have captured another: > **[The Big Picture photography competition: round 134](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/8240679/The-Big-Picture-photography-competition-round-134.html?image=6)** > > Enter our photography competition for the chance to win a £250 camera. Here are this week's best entries. And here’s a discussion of highly evolved elephants with multiple trunks as a hypothetical: > **[Could Elephants truly be the next sentient species on Earth? - International...](http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216361)** > > Could Elephants truly be the next sentient species on Earth? Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/2 "2013-04-09T02:38:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …and this picture claims to have captured another: > > [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/8240679/The-Big-Picture-photography-competition-round-134.html?image=6](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/8240679/The-Big-Picture-photography-competition-round-134.html?image=6) Look closer. I’m certain that’s two elephants side by side. There’s too much front leg and that’s clearly another head the upper trunk is coming from. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/3 "2013-04-09T02:53:33Z")
Strange. However a more fruitful field of enquiry might be to find out the proportion of 1970s-'80s SF cover-art illustrators were habitual users of illegal drugs. Especially for paperbacks; and especially for Moorcock. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/4 "2013-04-09T02:56:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What is it with SF writers and two-trunked elephants? I’ve long thought it has a lot to do with elephants on occasion being used as an example of real-world non-human animals with a manipulative appendage. Two trunks are simply an upgrade designed to make them more competitive in dexterity. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Are there any other examples? [Invaders from Rigel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invaders_from_Rigel) had elephantlike aliens, but I don’t recall how many trunks they had. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/5 "2013-04-09T02:59:12Z")
I think that it starts with the (normal, Earthly) elephant as a case study. How weird can aliens be? At least as weird as Earthly life. How weird, then, can Earthly life be? Well, we’ve got a relatively intelligent species that uses a prehensile nose as a fingered tentacle… That’s pretty weird. As a thought exercise, it’s meant to just show how far outside the box you can go, but some authors take it a bit too literally, and go not just that far out of the box, but also in that exact same direction. One might be just as justified in, say, making a species with prehensile ears… but nobody ever seems to do that. Oh, and it should also be mentioned that Niven and Pournelle’s Fithp are apparently descended from actual Earthly elephants, so there’s good reason for them to look like them. One supposes that the Predecessors decided that primates were already on the right track for intelligence, and so decided to uplift the second-best prospect on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/6 "2013-04-09T03:00:37Z")
Dear Lord, here’s another one – Iain Banks’ _Surface Detail_: > [@](#): > > The group talked about the ideas presented in the book and Banks’ influences–namely Dante’s Inferno. We also talked about his depictions of Hell, the ordeal that one character, Chay, a two-trunked elephant, endures and what is being said through her story. [http://bookgroupbuzz.booklistonline.com/2012/12/14/iain-m-banks-surface-detail/](http://bookgroupbuzz.booklistonline.com/2012/12/14/iain-m-banks-surface-detail/) > [@](#): > > Look closer. I’m certain that’s two elephants side by side. Read closer. I wrote (emphasis added): > [@](#): > > …and this picture _CLAIMS_ to have captured another ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/7 "2013-04-09T04:24:47Z")
A lack of opposable trunks is what is what keeps the elephant from being good jugglers and taking over the circus in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/8 "2013-04-09T05:33:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Dear Lord, here’s another one – Iain Banks’ _Surface Detail_ I read that book recently. The Pavuleans have digits of some sort at the end of each trunk, too. Kind of an odd civilization. Kind of an odd book, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/9 "2013-04-09T06:21:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Oh, and it should also be mentioned that Niven and Pournelle’s Fithp are apparently descended from actual Earthly elephants, so there’s good reason for them to look like them. One supposes that the Predecessors decided that primates were already on the right track for intelligence, and so decided to uplift the second-best prospect on the planet. Wait, what? Really? I thought little was known about the Predecessors, at least within Footfall’s covers. Did N&P write a prequel short story or something that I missed? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/10 "2013-04-09T07:14:00Z")
Bit of a stretch probably, but Niven’s Puppeteers are also not a million miles away from two-trunked elephants - OK, they have two heads, but the brain is central and singular, so the two necks/heads/sense clusters are really just prehensile appendages. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/11 "2013-04-09T11:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Wait, what? Really? I thought little was known about the Predecessors, at least within Footfall’s covers. Did N&P write a prequel short story or something that I missed? No, within the book, it just takes a bit of extrapolation. There’s a thuktun they show the humans which shows their recent evolutionary path, and the proto-fithp is described as looking exactly like an elephant (larger, only one trunk, etc.). Combine that with a known starfaring race that’s taken an interest in the Fithps’ development, and the implication is clear. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/12 "2013-04-09T14:11:54Z")
Another discussion. I think he’s cribbing from _Footfall_: > [@](#): > > There are five basic body types for an intellegent species capable of manipulating fire on a terrestrial planet that is 80 to 120% the mass of Earth with an oxygen/nitrogen content between 18/82% to 23/77%, orbiting in the habitable zone of a G type star. > > These are: > > Humanoid – morphology like human, head, trunk, two arms and two legs. > Vishnuoid – morphology like vishnu, head, trunk, four arms and two legs. > Centauriod – morphology like centaur, head, trunk, two arms and four legs. > Elephantiod – morphology like elephant, head, trunk, four legs, and extended nose appendage like an elephant’s trunk with two manipulating appendages at the end. [http://www.cthreepo.com/lab/physed1/](http://www.cthreepo.com/lab/physed1/) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/13 "2013-04-09T14:13:27Z")
Jokes, we get: > [@](#): > > Q: What has two tails, two trunks and five feet? > A: An elephant with spare parts [http://www.harryc.com/jokes17-elephant.htm](http://www.harryc.com/jokes17-elephant.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/14 "2013-04-09T14:19:04Z")
**Forgotten Realms** has the Loxo: > [@](#): > > Loxos appear as large humanoid elephants with two trunks and bluish-gray skin. They roam the Shaar in hunter-gatherer groups. Peaceful in nature, Loxos prefer to be left alone and have little contact with other sentient races. They often worship the giant deity Hiatea.[1] > > Loxos first appeared in Faerun in the 12th century DR, possibly arriving from another world. > **[Loxo](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Loxo)** > > Loxos (also pluralized as loxoth\[4\]) appeared as large humanoid elephants with two trunks and bluish-gray skin. They roamed the Shaar in hunter-gatherer groups. Peaceful in nature, Loxos were an isolationist race and had little contact with other... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/15 "2013-04-09T14:25:33Z")
the game **Cogno** has the alien _Phonica_ > [@](#): > > Phonica is a snakelike pink elephant with two trunks and three stalk eyes. She also has a photographic memory and can speak in dozens of languages at once. [http://74.6.116.71/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=Cogno+Phonica&fr=yfp-t-900&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=Cogno+Phonica&d=4614299102415347&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=6omHSOpwEWYyV3sxJTPAPcCeyPrEvKI-&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=xrG5UVdv38nRU3nptLOFrw--](http://74.6.116.71/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=Cogno+Phonica&fr=yfp-t-900&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=Cogno+Phonica&d=4614299102415347&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=6omHSOpwEWYyV3sxJTPAPcCeyPrEvKI-&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=xrG5UVdv38nRU3nptLOFrw--) Picture here: [http://www.cogno.com/alien\_poster.shtml](http://www.cogno.com/alien_poster.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/16 "2013-04-09T15:01:34Z")
My favorite line of all early science fiction: > [@](#): > > tetrahedra of terror! From the very real story, [Tetrahedra of Space](http://books.google.com/books?id=PbMdeizaCNcC&pg=PA295&dq=%22tetrahedra+of+space%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MixkUbyqDsfj4AO0iYHICQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22tetrahedra%20of%20space%22&f=false) by P. Schuyler Miller. An attempt to depict totally alien aliens. By comparison two-trunked elephants are more subtle a way to show the chanciness of evolution. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/17 "2013-04-09T16:42:29Z")
Not SF, but Hindu religion Some images of Ganesh/Ganapadi have multiple heads and trunks, including the twoheaded (and two-trunked) Dvimuka Ganapadi: [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DvimuKa_gaNapati.bmp.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DvimuKa_gaNapati.bmp.jpg) > **[Sritattvanidhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sritattvanidhi)** > > The Sritattvanidhi (Śrītattvanidhi, "The Illustrious Treasure of Realities") is a treatise written in the 19th century in Karnataka on the iconography and iconometry of divine figures in South India. One of its sections includes instructions for, and illustrations of, 122 hatha yoga postures. > The Sritattvanidhi is attributed to the then Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (b. 1794 - d. 1868). The Maharaja was a great patron of art and learning, and was himself a scholar and writer. A... there’s a story that P.T. Barnum tried to buy Gib, a two-trunked elephant, from Bailey, before they became partners. (P. 514 here): > **[Life](https://books.google.com/books?id=3IwhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA514&dq=elephant%2Bwith%2B%22two%2Btrunks%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BkRkUcoFhcLgA82-gZAM&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=elephant%20with%20%22two%20trunks%22&f=false)** ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/18 "2013-04-09T16:52:41Z")
Another SF example: _Cameron Jack and the Key to the Universe_ by Chris Jones (2010) > [@](#): > > “Well hello there, young ones,” came a man’s voice behind them. They slowly turned to see a man sitting on what looked like an elephant, except that it had two trunks and six legs and four tusks, two either side of the two trunks. The man looked like a warrior of some sort, a soldier perhaps. > **[Cameron Jack and the Key to the Universe](https://books.google.com/books?id=kz_cLwPerOAC&pg=PA29&dq=elephant%2Bwith%2B%22two%2Btrunks%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p0VkUYuQCrSz4AP78IDwAw)** > > When young Cameron a 10 year old boy moved into a new house with his mum and sister, they made friends with a creepy old man who lived opposite. The old man told Cameron that he was a special boy and gave him a key that could take him anywhere in the... Mr. Jones desperately needs an editor, not to mention some lessons in grammar. I had to clean up too many errors in that brief excerpt, including changing “worrier” to “warrior”. At least I hope that was what he really meant. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/19 "2013-04-09T16:56:00Z")
Wallace Stevens used to make up stories about imaginary beasts, according to _Wallace Stevens: a Reader’s guide_, including an elephant with two trunk: “One tenor, one bass.” (p. 4) > **[A Reader's Guide to Wallace Stevens](https://books.google.com/books?id=OKdr0LqW3nsC&pg=PA4&dq=elephant%2Bwith%2B%22two%2Btrunks%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e0dkUcWWA9DC4AOrhoH4CQ&ved=0CFkQ6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q=elephant%20with%20%22two%20trunks%22&f=false)** > > Wallace Stevens is one of the major poets of the twentieth century, and also among the most challenging. His poems can be dazzling in their verbal brilliance. They are often shot through with lavish imagery and wit, informed by a lawyer's logic, and... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198/20 "2013-04-09T16:58:46Z")
Back to straight SF: Gene Wolfe, in _The Book of the Long Sun_, has the Gaonese, with eight legs and two trunks. P. 185 here > **[Gate of Horn, Book of Silk](https://books.google.com/books?id=7Kx5VbYc3x8C&pg=PA185&dq=elephant%2Bwith%2B%22two%2Btrunks%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NkhkUYCvOpbI4APelIG4DQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAzge#v=onepage&q=elephant%20with%20%22two%20trunks%22&f=false)** > > In this companion guide, Michael Andre-Driussi illuminates Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun and Book of the Short Sun science fiction series through dictionary-style entries on the characters, gods, locations, themes, and timelines of the novels.... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-trunked-elephants-in-science-fiction/655198.md?page=2)