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submitted 6 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 15 points 6 months ago

TBH I'd still rather have the Asian one if I had to choose. They're slightly more domesticated which implies intelligence and willingness to cooperate with humans. African Elephants will just kill you.

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 months ago

Yet I remember reading somewhere african elephants were tamed before their asian counterparts.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 points 6 months ago

I doubt there are many left today. Most of the taming, both African and Asian, in modern history and even historically before that has been done in India and Indonesia, pretty far from the Savannah. In fact, the taming of African elephants for clearing timber in the Belgian Congo was done by employed Mahouts, if I'm not mistaken. No idea who the mastermind behind circus elephants was, but I think the last 3 in all of Europe died a couple of years ago. One famous African Circus Elephant was Jumbo, which just adds to the notion that it was rare.

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 months ago

I can't remember where I read it but it was a good coverage on the historical use of elephants in Africa in pre-colonial, as in during the great african kingdoms. And lets not forget war elephants, in Roman times, were from Africa.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 0 points 6 months ago

I'll be sure to source my next elephant from Rome. /sarcasm

[-] qyron@sopuli.xyz 5 points 6 months ago

There is no need for sarcasm.

We tend to forget Africa had great kingdoms, with advanced civilization standards, before colonial times. Those kingdoms ruled the largest continent on the planet for centuries and elephants were animals used for both work and war.

Hanibal took elephants across the Alpes (most died) in order to invade Italy. I seriously doubt the general ordered his elephants from India.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

The conversation was about picking an elephant today. In 2024.

Africa had some amazing kingdoms. Some exaggerated stories claim they had palaces with roads encrusted with precious gemstones, but the truth is that the reality of their civilizations were impressive even without embellishment. That's not what our conversation is about, though.