Mammal Stereotypes - Elephants - 12 - Page 1

Unforgetting, mice-fearing, strict and imposing, noble

Elephants are amongst the world's most intelligent species. With a mass of just over 5 kg (11 lb), elephant brains are larger than those of any other land animal, and although the largest whales have body masses twenty-fold those of a typical elephant, whale brains are barely twice the mass of an elephant's brain. The elephant's brain is similar to that of humans in terms of structure and complexity - such as the elephant's cortex having as many neurons as a human brain, suggesting convergent evolution.

Drunks are often depicted as if they see pink elephants or pink rabbits while being intoxicated. In a South-East Asian setting elephants will often be transporting people of the higher classes or tiger hunters on their back. In popular culture elephants are usually seen eating peanuts. In cartoons and comic strips elephants are able to play the trumpet with their trunk. Elephants are often named "Hannibal", in reference to the Carthaginian general Hannibal who crossed the Alps with elephants.