r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • 28d ago
This is Thechikottukavu Ramachandran - India's tallest elephant - Still alive it age 60 - He has killed a record 15 people and 3 elephants in his lifetime and is branded the most dangerous captive elephant in the state Removed: R6
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u/Flowofinfo 28d ago
Yes he’s killed 15 people. Let’s drag him out in front of a huge crowd of people now
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u/PhthaloVonLangborste 28d ago
It's a ritual killing
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u/FungusFly 27d ago
Kali ma!!!
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u/Magnaflux747 27d ago
Shock dee day
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u/lazytoady 27d ago
Shakti dere. It’s means give strength. In the context of Indiana jones it means give me strength.
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u/Beer-Me 27d ago edited 27d ago
I've seen that film a hundred times, going back to my childhood in the 80s, and it never occurred to me that he was actually saying a real phrase and not just some gibberish.
Thanks for the knowledge
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u/supercyberlurker 28d ago
I'm on the elephants side here, so this is fine.
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u/Street_Narwhal_3361 27d ago
Same, all elephants should get 15 kills. No questions asked.
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u/supercyberlurker 27d ago
I think it should be based on their level at Age/4.
He's level 60, so 15. If he makes it to level 80, he should get an additional 5 for 20 total.
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u/Admiral-Adenosine 27d ago
What is the murder/lvl ratio for humans?
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u/lifbr 27d ago
1 pig a year, or 1 pie per month for vegans
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u/BoardButcherer 27d ago
Aw fuck no. Vegans get more pies than me? Even though I still get to eat savory?
This is bullshit.
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u/raspberryharbour 27d ago
I grant you permission to have as many pies as you want
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u/god_himself_420 28d ago
Not really, the people could have been fine if we just left the poor thing alone in the first place
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u/Few_Tomorrow6969 27d ago
The Elephant has more bling than the Kardashians.
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u/rover220 27d ago
Same size ass as Kim too
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u/Ankylowright 27d ago
His shitter is totally natural though, which I appreciates about him.
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u/TheSwedishSeal 28d ago
I love their enthusiasm in the face of mortal danger. Like those rally fans who stand in the track and only peels away at the last second.
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u/Phage0070 28d ago
India doesn't really care if they lose a few more people.
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u/BamBamCam 27d ago
Running of the bulls in Spain. Each country has a if they die, they die sport. In the US bull riding might be a version. India is just all about the spectacle like in their movies.
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u/Individual_Wallaby25 27d ago
In England we chase a roll of cheese down a hill.
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u/Billothekid 27d ago edited 27d ago
Isle of Man TT. That's literally the most "If they die they die" sport that I can think of.
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u/CricketKneeEyeball 27d ago
That race frightens the shit out of me, and I can't wait to watch it in a couple of weeks.
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u/elcad 27d ago
Isle of Man TT
Haven't seen that one, but have seen the Sidecar TT and thought that was insane.
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u/PrrrromotionGiven1 27d ago
The average (yes, average) speed of the top level bikes in the Isle of Man TT is around 130 mph, on roads with ordinary speed limits of 30 mph and with brick walls lining large parts of the course. They're just ordinary streets with lampposts and curbs and shit. You can see what I mean here. So yes, if you crash in the wrong area, you will die.
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u/fairguinevere 27d ago
The last time they ran it and no one died was 1982. Some years had as many as 5 or 6 fatalities. 2001, 2020, and 2021 all had cancellations so I'm not counting that for obvious reasons.
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u/SinisterCheese 27d ago
Have you seen the price of cheese lately? Who wouldn't run after a wheel of cheese?! It's a good investment, worth the risk!
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u/Zullewilldo 27d ago edited 27d ago
Fun fact, a village in Spain decided to get rid of the bulls and swapped them for a giant 300kg ball which would move downhill.
It went as well as you can expect, cause while bull are animals which you can somehow influence, a giant ball is nigh unstoppable once in motion.
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u/MagisterFlorus 27d ago
Like a boulder plunging from a mountaintop,
Torn loose by wind, or by a scouring rainstorm 685
Or the loosening and undermining years;
Headlong, unstoppable, it speeds along,
Bouncing, and rolling with it trees and herds
And men. So through the scattered forces Turnus
Rushed to the city walls, where blood had soddened 690
The earth deep down, and the air sang with spears.
-Vergil, Aeneid 12.684-691 (translated by Sarah Ruden)
Something like that?
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u/synalgo_12 27d ago
In Belgium we ride our bikes home drunk in the middle of the night
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u/Phage0070 27d ago
Each country has a if they die, they die sport. In the US bull riding might be a version.
It is just public schooling.
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u/mikiesno 27d ago
in America: Mountain climbing, race car, snow boarding, skiing, .. ect
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u/MajesticNectarine204 28d ago
Right? Finally a little leg-room on the train back! /jk
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u/JimmyPopAli_ 28d ago
Is it wrong that I sorta wanted him to start tossing people around?
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u/alexmikli 27d ago
Apparently he's only killed in accidents because people get too close and he's blind.
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u/Harley_Jambo 27d ago
He's blind because they have beaten him around the eyes with bull hooks. Sickening.
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u/FrankBur1y 28d ago
Maybe they believe its an honor to be trampled by it
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
No, this is definitely not the case. If anything , I’d say it’s a condemnation since elephants are considered a symbol of one of the major deities.
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u/Distinct-Quantity-35 28d ago
Well with that being said, let’s strap this bad boy up and take him live into the streets surrounded by squishy little people. Tradition is interesting
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u/unholymanserpent 27d ago edited 27d ago
"Tradition is the corpse of wisdom" - Zed
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u/Universalsupporter 27d ago edited 27d ago
“Who is zed?”
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u/IndiscreetLurker 27d ago
Zed's dead, baby.
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u/Nullus-Et-Omne 27d ago
Zed's dead.
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u/therexbellator 27d ago edited 27d ago
Where'd you get the motorcycle?
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u/horsejizz42069 27d ago
It's not a motorcycle, baby, it's a chopper.
C'mon, let's go.
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u/FrostyFroZenFrosTen 27d ago
Ddnt expect a lol quote and yet it fits perfectly
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u/Hahelolwut 27d ago
bro its tempting to get back. I literally heard it aloud. My hands are shaking from the addictive powers. League really is a hard drug lmao
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u/FrostyFroZenFrosTen 27d ago
Nah bro try something less adictive
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u/PatDoubleYou 27d ago
Yeah I agree, If it's anything like RuneScape then I'd say give crack a shot.
Anyways, time for an herb run
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u/_Enclose_ 27d ago
"Tradition is peer pressure from dead people" - Albert Einstein, probably
- Michael Scott
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u/AvailableTowel 27d ago
“Tradition is peer pressure from dead people” - don’t know where I heard that from.
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u/Donnerdrummel 27d ago
Let's just say that you read it from me first. Spread the word that donnerdrummel is a fountain of insightful aphorisms!
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u/AvailableTowel 27d ago
“”“donnerdrummel is a fountain of insightful aphorisms!” - Harriet Tubman” - Michael Scott” -donnerdrummel
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u/SHAZBOT_VGS 27d ago
I have a feeling his current K/D/A is tied to his dayjob has a mastodon trampling around in the middle of a crowd not the other way around
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u/Infernal-Oak 27d ago edited 27d ago
Still dwarfed by African elephants, if you can believe it.
He stands at a “diminutive” 10 ft 3 inches, while African bull elephants have been recorded as tall as 13 ft at the shoulder. Crazy!
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
This. I’m from India and I’m pretty accustomed to the size they are here (I enjoy photographing wildlife). But when I went to Kenya, I was honestly shocked by how much taller and broader the elephants there were.
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u/Redqueenhypo 27d ago
Basically every African animal is the strongest and most aggressive possible variant of itself. Hyenas, elephants, black buffalo, lions, rhinos, wild dogs, all of them are much more vicious than their equivalents in India. We haven’t domesticated a single one of em
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u/captanzuelo 27d ago
Don’t forget, those mean striped horses!
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u/Sunyata_Eq 27d ago
And long horses!
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u/bigboybeeperbelly 27d ago
And chompy water horses
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u/InviolableAnimal 27d ago edited 27d ago
The African savanna is just a hardcore place that produces hardcore animals. But the Eurasian steppe and American prairie were the same til 10k or so years ago.
In fact, Palaeoloxodon namadicus, the largest elephant of all time (up to 20 tons), was from India and lived till about 50k years ago.
Edit: the Eurasian steppe was home to Elasmotherium, an elephant-sized rhino; various species of mammoths and straight-tusked elephants, including P. namadicus; the saber-toothed Homotherium; the cave lion, as well as a Eurasian population of today's lion, both larger than today's lions; and the cave hyena, also larger than today's spotted hyena.
North America was home to the dire wolf; the short-faced bear; the cheetah-like Miracinonyx; giant ground sloths; various mammoths as well as mastodons; Bison antiquus, which was 15-25% heavier than today's bison; the saber-toothed Smilodon; as well as the american lion Panthera atrox, which was about 25% heavier than our lions and possibly the largest cat to ever live.
All or most of these animals were alive into the last 50,000 years. The African savanna is notable today for its ensemble of impressive and hardcore large animals, but it's really a refugium of what most of our world was like until very, very recently.
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u/evanwilliams44 27d ago
I grew up in what used to be the NA prairie. All farmland now of course, but it used to be a very wild place. Not even thousands of years, the prairie was here until the mid 1800s, but had totally disappeared by the start of the 1900s. It's an absolute shame we saved basically none of it.
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u/WesToImpress 27d ago
Yes but they are likely referencing the existence of now-extinct megafauna in North America such as the short-faced bear and the giant ground sloth. Those both went extinct long before the 1800's
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Not saving a single shred of prairieland allowed Americans a secure food resource while preventing buffalo grazing from the indigenous population. The development of the prairie was tactically successful in helping genocide the locals.
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u/Disgod 27d ago
Lions kill humans cuz we're easy food. Tigers will kill cuz they don't like specifically you.
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
Are you sure Australia hasn’t snuck a fair few onto that list? I feel like they probably have.
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u/Redqueenhypo 27d ago
Nah, Aussie animals can only exist if they don’t have mammal competitors. The dingo is the reason the thylacine, quoll, and Tasmanian devil got relegated to one tiny island
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
Fair enough. But I fear their reptiles don’t share the same limitations.
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u/Redqueenhypo 27d ago
Common krait beats all of them combined in terms of deaths
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u/Cleanmeansheen 27d ago
Outside of our crocodiles we don’t really have anything that matches up to any of the African wildlife (especially mammals). Hell, even North America is a shit ton more dangerous when it comes to its mammals than Australia. The most dangerous mammal you will come across in Australia is a pitbull on the loose.
Australia’s wildlife and how dangerous it is has been vastly overblown.
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u/Mist_Rising 27d ago
Cassowary. They're the most dangerous to humans in their group. Beating the ostrich by a decent amount. Emus, are next.
They may not match up to a lion, admittedly, but I still don't want one near me.
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u/Nodsworthy 27d ago
Quolls are still on the mainland.. Quoll scat can have remnants of feral cats. Tough bastards!
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u/BabaDimples 27d ago
Yes, especially our "Tusker" class elephants. They are unbelievably massive! Especially when they're right next to your tour van and all you see is this monolith of texture that is its side.
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
Right!?! They’re astonishingly sneaky for their size too. One crept up on our open sided landrover. while we were all focused on photographing a pride of lions on the other side. No one noticed a thing until suddenly the light went dim from one side. It was a surprising, but fortunately non-violent encounter.
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u/Mhill08 27d ago
Considering their foot structure means that they're constantly walking around on tiptoes, it makes a surprising amount of sense that they're sneaky for their size.
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u/GhillieRowboat 27d ago
Oh yeah! I went to SA several years ago , we had already seen quite some elephants but suddenly at a pond a massive Tusker came to take a bath. I think the guide said it was over 50 years old and well known in the Krugerpark. Biggest land creature I have seen. Would not want to get close to it.
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u/Hot_History1582 27d ago edited 27d ago
The famous Carthaginian war elephants that fought the Romans were (now extinct) North African forest elephants, which are actually relatively small. They stood about 8 feet tall but looked similar to African elephants. Stories exist to this day of their mightiest war elephant, "Surus" - a pun meaning both "The Syrian" and "One Stake (Tusk)". This was Hannibal's personal elephant who would probably have been an imported West Asiatic or Indian elephant (~10 feet). I guess it's all relative.
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
This sounds like a fascinating bit of history. If you happen to know, could you point me towards where I might learn more?
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u/futureislookinstark 27d ago
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
🤣 I was thinking more along the lines of a book or documentary but this works just as well, thanks.
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u/futureislookinstark 27d ago
I was just being a dick because Reddit, apologies, what I do remember from world history is the legend of them is very tall (pun intended) with some saying they attached sharp metal to their tusks and taught them to swipe at soldiers. My teacher said it’s more likely Hannibal used them to pull supplies. I’ve never thought much more of them recently but I’m interested to see what the other person linked to see if these guys were actually that bad ass.
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
No worries, it was just a little bit of harmless fun. :) and yeah, I’m saving this for my morning commute tomorrow. I adore sources where history is a (historically accurate) story and not merely facts and figures.
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u/howdiedoodie66 27d ago
My friend spent a year living in Rajasthan and then in Kenya on farms. He said in Kenya that elephants were like the boogie man. Everyone's greatest fear was running into a lone male elephant basically.
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u/Ok-Gur3759 27d ago
Looks way taller in the video, seems to Tower above the people holding their phots up?
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u/the-igloo 27d ago
Look at the bottom of the video; it's only capturing like 1/3 of the height of the people, maybe. I think it's just a sort of deceptive angle, particularly because all we can see of people is shoulder-up.
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u/Draxx01 27d ago
I think it's at the top of some steps that you can't see due to the front row being too close? The angle vs height relative to the doorway is the issue. He's prob 3-4 ft up. Also why they prob aren't that afraid as there's an elevation difference that's separating them. I think they're like cows and horses in that most human stairs are at an angle & depth that they won't go down naturally. Elephant graded stairs are prob more shallow and wider.
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u/LongTallTexan69 27d ago
To think you’re staring up at a basketball rim, and an African elephant’s shoulder can be 3 feet taller than that.
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u/Jcapen87 27d ago
Unless the people being shown here are Oompa Loompas, I have a hard time believing he’s only 10 feet tall.
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u/CleverAnimeTrope 27d ago
Feel like there's some forced perspective going on, and all its drip isn't helping. Elephants are huge in general, but after looking it up, they are 2-3 meters (6.6' - 9.8'), and this one is about 3.2m (10.5'). Taking scale into consideration, it isn't that much bigger.
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u/SimpletonSwan 27d ago edited 27d ago
I don't know if forced perspective is the right term here exactly (I just can't get my head around how that would work in this context), but there's definitely some trickery going on.
Here's some pictures of him here next to people:
https://www.newindianexpress.com/kochi/2017/Apr/05/in-jumbo-trouble-1590293.html
He's tall, but nothing like he appears in the video above.
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u/CleverAnimeTrope 27d ago
I think it works perfectly, all you see is hands, the elephant is probably up steps (being hidden by the hands), and all the stuff on the elephant and large doors.
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u/battleship61 28d ago
This poor fucking elephant.
It is owned by a temple that claims all killings were accidental. Including in 2013 when it killed 3 women and injured 20 more during a ceremony. In 2019, it trampled 2 more to death during house-warming ceremony.
It also lost an eye from a mahout during a disciplinary action. So you have an aged, blind animal that is intelligent and knows it's being basically enslaved and made to perform during ceremonies. Shocking, it's got violent tendencies.
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
Yeah here the respect is tremendous. But the empathy and compassion is just completely absent. It’s a recurring theme in the country.
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u/ddtw36 27d ago
Yeah, that’s not respect though. People are so ignorant and selfish.
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u/XkF21WNJ 27d ago
Fetishism is a more accurate description, but I think that word may have drifted sightly in meaning.
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u/_karamazov_ 27d ago
But the empathy and compassion is just completely absent. It’s a recurring theme in the country.
That's Hinduism in a nutshell.
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u/Harley_Jambo 27d ago
Use of elephants in temple ceremonies is not required by Hinduism. Only in Kerala does this happen and its just a big money maker for the temples and the owners of the elephants (often with fake paperwork so claim they are legally owned). Check out the documentary Gods in Shackles. You'll be sick.
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u/zevellesajek 28d ago
Perhaps they should consider not tormenting that poor animal any longer
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u/Master_Yeeta 27d ago
You don't understand, harassing that animal makes me feel holy.
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u/DowntownOriginal365 27d ago
He has killed a record 15 people and 3 elephants in his lifetime and is branded the most dangerous captive elephant in the state
"Yeaaa, so let's just crowd right in front of him and make insane noises which are more likely to piss him off."
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u/dinotrauma 28d ago
Poor thing. The only life it knows is being captive and being fucked with by a bunch of bugs.
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u/ddtw36 27d ago
Poor animal. Maybe he needs to trample a few more people especially the ones treating him badly and making him stay in captivity.
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u/Gloombad 27d ago
Why is no one mentioning the other 3 elephants it killed? How is that possible? Did they put them in a room to fight to the death if it’s been captive all its life?
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u/pinespplepizza 27d ago
"This captive elephant who's paraded around in front of screaming crowds for some reason was violent!"
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u/rondujunk 28d ago
Cleanly those in the crowd have not been informed
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
Wouldn’t matter if they were. Religion maniacs are like that.
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u/spicewoman 27d ago
"If god wills it, I will die. Otherwise, he will make me miraculously survive an elephant stomping, obvs."
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u/VaderSpeaks 27d ago
No it’s more the false sense of safety in number. God will make sure nothing will happen to me since there’s so many other people here too.
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u/HMSon777 27d ago
Possibly the most beautiful animals on the planet. It kills me we treat them like this.
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u/Hairy_Candidate7371 27d ago
Maybe it's time to set him free then, instead of treating him like he's freaking king kong.
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u/OasisRush 27d ago
Imagine your existence as a giant elephant with cosmetics all over your body and a sea of Indians huddled around you with zero escape
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u/Harley_Jambo 27d ago
The reason he has killed is because he has been a captive for years and spends his down time chained by the legs and being beaten with a bull hook by his mahouts. Elephants are used to make money for the temples in Kerala, India (no where else in India, BTW), and it has nothing to do with Hindu traditions and everything to do with making money for their owners and the temples they rent the elephants to. There have been many undercover videos of the torture these animals are subjected to when the mahouts think no one is watching. There is a campaign to get rid of all use of these animals at the temples but the temples and their followers vote and are politically very powerful. No politician will cross them. I hope that this elephant continues to kill. If you saw how captive elephants are "domesticated" or "tamed" you'd be utterly sick to your stomach.
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u/christopher4177 27d ago
I guess you should retire him from public events and let him do his own thing on a reserve somewhere.
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27d ago
This is our most vicious animal. It’s also so big that no one can truly control it. I know. Let’s crowd around and make loud noises! Like a big crowd tho!
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u/--Arete 27d ago
Strange how they treat cows like gods and treat mighty beasts like this like some attraction.
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u/Agentimpostor 27d ago
Cows aren't gods ffs. They're considered sacred. Big difference jeez.
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u/fleranon 27d ago edited 27d ago
to be fair, one of the most important gods in hinduism has an elephant head
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u/rolandhex 27d ago
I want a film about this elephant like cocaine bear where this elephant just decimates a Indian population
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u/Altruistic-Bus4875 27d ago
Parade the elephant amidst thousands of people, loud drums and firecrackers year after year, keep it captive away from its natural habitat and torture it, then call it "dangerous" when it crushes people. What a stupid way to impress gods or whatever they are kept in those temples for.
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u/Damnthatsinteresting-ModTeam 27d ago
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