DO ELEPHANTS FEAR MICE?

On the face of it, why should they?  It is not as though they feel a mouse is going to beat seven bells out of them.  If you haven't noticed, there is what may be termed a disparity in size between them.  But there is some evidence that elephants are not altogether happy in the company of mice.  The idea that elephants fear mice is as old as Pliny.  What can cause this?

I would suggest the answer t o this is simply that elephants get startled by the swift movement of mice.  Mice don't simply run or climb, they dart.  Things that dart may dart from fear , but darting can also be the action of a predator, shooting in to make his kill.  Of course, there is no danger of a mouse preying on an elephant, but, because of something in their evolution, elephants may have developed a reaction to all darting, whether of large or small animals, and this is carried over to the darting mouse.

Of course, the fear of mice (murophobia) is not uncommon among humans.  I suggest this has its origin, not only in the darting mouse, but in the naked tail.  Humans seem to have an inbuilt repugnance to animals with naked tails.  Rats and squirrels are not dissimilar, but humans tend to find the naked-tailed rat repugnant, but the furry tailed squirrel charming.  Why should humans be put off by naked tails?  I think the answer may lie far back in human ancestry.

Well, enough of this speculation.  Time to get on with today's blog.                            

P.S.  My 17th Century fellow Irishman, Dr Moulin, harbored the suspicion that elephants might fear mice would crawl up their trunks and suffocate them.