What are some interesting facts about elephants?

1 Very resistant. In fact, they only sleep about 4 hours a day and, walking at a normal pace, even for 15 hours a day, they are capable of covering 100 kilometers.

2 Not agile, but not slow either. Due to their massive size, they obviously can't change direction quickly, and they obviously can't jump. However, having legs as strong as the columns of a Greco-Roman temple, they can walk at a fast pace because they don't have to struggle to carry the rest of their body. So, if they try to reach something, they can sprint at speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour.

3. Skilled communicators. Having ears almost as big as a car door, they have excellent hearing, and having a very powerful trunk between them, they can hear each other even from several dozen kilometers away.

4. Pay attention to hygiene. Due to the heat of the African savannah or the Asian forests, they need to stay well hydrated to care for their skin and remove dirt, and therefore, near rivers, they use their trunks not only to quench their thirst but also to shower.
5. They are not "fat." Adult male African elephants can weigh up to 7 tons, but it's important to remember that elephants are physically very strong, with highly developed muscles, a very strong bone structure, and obviously large organs. But in proportion to their total mass, their fat mass is low. So when bullies body-sham (offend people based on their physical appearance), insulting those with a belly by saying "they're as fat as an elephant," they forget that in reality, in terms of the ratio of fat mass to total mass, even ballerinas would be fatter than an elephant. So in this case, if bullies offend someone based on physical appearance, they may in turn be offended by ignorance.
6. Skilled with language. According to recent studies conducted with the help of artificial intelligence, elephants use different sounds when calling each other so that they can recognize each other and know who they're talking to. Obviously, research must continue to confirm this hypothesis, but it's most likely true, and therefore elephants use names in their own way.

Why do wild elephants attack humans?

 There are several reasons.

Experts are beginning to notice that elephants exhibit characteristics similar to PTSD. This stems from witnessing, as young elephants, humans killing members of their herd solely to remove their tusks and leave behind carcasses. As a result, they have become more aggressive towards humans out of fear. They associate humans with murder and essentially hate them. Understandably so.

If the matriarch has had a bad experience with people, her behavior will adjust accordingly, becoming more fearful or aggressive depending on her own personality.

Other members of the family follow her lead in moments of crisis, and the young elephant learns how to behave. Aggressive behavior towards humans can be learned. Just as children learn prejudices from their parents, so too can elephants.

next, This is when the male becomes the mast. They are extremely dangerous. They are filled with very high levels of testosterone and itching to fight. They will attack anything that moves. This is easily identifiable as there is often a leak from the temples and wet feet. Mast elephants often excrete a thick, tar-like secretion called temporin from the temporal canal on the side of their head and urinate with their legs.

Because humans have killed many older male elephants for their tusks, younger male elephants are entering the mast earlier than before. This led to a tragic incident in the 1990s in two South African national parks where mob elephants killed more than 100 rhinos without provocation. It only stopped when older, larger male elephants were brought there.

Herds of female elephants with young calves can also be dangerous, especially if you startle them in some way while walking. It's not uncommon for elephants to charge at people on foot or in vehicles, but you can usually tell they're serious from the quietness of the charge and the position of their ears. The most dangerous are when they charge silently with their ears held back.

Elephants in Cameroon are currently facing a crisis. Just this month, horseback poachers killed half of the elephant population in search of ivory. This poaching slaughter is being called one of the worst in decades, with at least 200 elephants killed for their tusks by horseback poachers from Chad and Sudan since January. More than 400 people have died since the hunting season began.

What is actually meant by Hindu texts when they said Earth was on top of elephants which were on top of a giant turtle?

 

Is planet Earth on top of four elephants which in turn are on the top of a giant turtle?

What does this mean?

Scriptures are based on seven stage muscle tone based thinking. The fourth stage is symbolized by water and represents Vishnu.

Vishnu is the Preserver and keeps life between a lower limit called Positive attitude and an upper limit called Negative attitude.

The Positive attitude is symbolized by turtle and the Negative attitude by Earth.

In Kurma or Turtle incarnation Vishnu prevents the ocean floor from sinking. The ocean floor symbolizes the Positive attitude.

In Varaha incarnation Vishnu restores the Earth from the bottom of the ocean floor, hidden there by the demon Hiranyaksha. Earth here symbolizes our Negative attitude.

If our Negative attitude below our Positive attitude we will feel that we have achieved more than enough and therefore, we won’t feel like doing anything. Vishnu restores the Negative attitude to its default level.

Purusha / Vishnu are three dimensional at the level of the navel. The four elephants symbolize this fact.

Thus, the Earth on top of four elephants, which in turn are on a giant turble symbolize the default state of human mind.