# What would happen if I approached a wild elephant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101 "2008-10-15T22:13:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/61 "2008-10-21T03:58:01Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Elephants regularly come past my house, which is on a traditional migratory route between two large forests, and we avoid them as far as possible. They tend to move more at night, which makes that fairly simple. And this is in London you say? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/62 "2008-10-21T04:31:18Z")
I’m reminded of an elephant gathering at a venue outside of Bangkok about four years ago. These weren’t wild elephants, but rather domesticated ones with their mahouts. But it’s considered good luck if you can pluck a hair from an elephant’s tail. Some guy was getting drunk with one of the mahouts and did just that, plucked a hair from his elephant’s tail. Good luck did not ensue. The elephant killed him. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/63 "2008-10-21T04:42:28Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m reminded of an elephant gathering at a venue outside of Bangkok about four years ago. These weren’t wild elephants, but rather domesticated ones with their mahouts. But it’s considered good luck if you can pluck a hair from an elephant’s tail. Some guy was getting drunk with one of the mahouts and did just that, plucked a hair from his elephant’s tail. Good luck did not ensue. The elephant killed him. Dear god. Is this one of those “if you can put salt on a sparrow’s tail you can catch” him type things? you know, one of those things you’re never actually going to be able to do…sort of a paradox? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/64 "2008-10-21T04:50:19Z")
Well, he DID pluck the hair out of the tail. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/65 "2008-10-21T04:51:54Z")
Some how, I read _white_ elephant. That would cause a bunch of someone else’s junk to land on your door step. (See MPSIMS for the thread.)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/66 "2008-10-21T05:44:31Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And this is in London you say? :eek: Errrrmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaahhhh… Not quite. 😉 Home just outside Bangalore, India. I still call that “home”, although I’ve lived in London since 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/67 "2008-10-21T05:48:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Well, he DID pluck the hair out of the tail. Yeah. Maybe the guy was thinking of it more like pulling hairs from the elephant’s tail is lucky, whereas the saying is more like anyone who can pluck a hair and live to tell about it is indeed lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/68 "2008-10-21T05:49:48Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m reminded of an elephant gathering at a venue outside of Bangkok about four years ago. These weren’t wild elephants, but rather domesticated ones with their mahouts. But it’s considered good luck if you can pluck a hair from an elephant’s tail. Some guy was getting drunk with one of the mahouts and did just that, plucked a hair from his elephant’s tail. Good luck did not ensue. The elephant killed him. Well, we’ll never know, but perhaps before that he was fated to be roasted alive over a fire or die a slow and painful death from a wasting disease. Maybe getting killed by an elephant WAS good luck in that respect! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/69 "2008-10-21T05:51:47Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > I did a little reading on elephants this year, just to feed the Elephant’s Child. Are you talking about your sense of insatiable curiosity? Or is elephant’s child how you refer to your kid? (Because that would be a really awesome nickname for a child.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101/70 "2008-10-22T03:16:00Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Well, we’ll never know, but perhaps before that he was fated to be roasted alive over a fire or die a slow and painful death from a wasting disease. Maybe getting killed by an elephant WAS good luck in that respect! 😉 THAT’S the spirit. 😃 I found the story on that. It was in July 2004. See [here](http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/read.php?newsid=102416&keyword=pluck+elephant). It’s titled: “Drunken Plucker.” Excerpts: "Nonthaburi police have identified the prime suspect in the death of a construction worker on Monday but now they face a new dilemma – what charges do they file against an elephant that was pestered by a man who was drunk. "Pheng told police that Somsak had joined him and other mahouts for a drinking session near a makeshift shelter for elephants under an expressway. “‘Apparently drunk, Somsak said he wanted the elephants’ tail hair for his talisman,’ Pheng said. "Despite objections from Pheng and other handlers, Somsak walked among the elephants, trying to pluck their hairs. “‘Plai Thondee became irritated by Somsak and wrapped his trunk around the victim before tossing him. The throw resulted in Somsak’s death,’ Pheng said." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-approached-a-wild-elephant/468101.md?page=3)