09/06/2025
When an elephant needs to be transported by plane from one country to another, for example, from India to the United States, they are placed in its cage... of baby chicks.
Yes, you read that right: tiny baby chicks.
Why ?
Because, despite its imposing mole, the elephant is extremely afraid of hurting it.
For this reason, during the entire flight, it remains perfectly still, so as not to risk crushing a single one.
This is how you maintain the balance of the plane.
And it’s also the first proof of its noble nature.
Fascinated by this behavior, some scientists have studied the elephant’s brain.
They've discovered the presence of fusiform cells, extremely rare neurons, also found in humans.
They are those connected to self-awareness, empathy and social perception.
In other words, the elephant isn’t just big physically: it’s also big emotionally.
Feel, understand, act with silent wisdom.
Leonardo da Vinci, deeply fascinated by nature, wrote about him:
«The elephant embodies uprightness, reason and temperance. »
And they added:
He enters the river and bathes with a kind of solemnity, as if he wanted to cleanse himself of all evil.
If you meet a lost man, he gently escorts him to the right path.
You never walk alone: always in group, always led by a leader.
It's pudgy.
They only mate at night, far from the pack, and before returning to their peers, they wash.
And if you meet a herd on the path, move it gently with the proboscide, so as not to hurt anyone.
But what moves me more than anything is this:
when the elephant feels the end is near, it moves away from the herd and goes to die alone, in a remote place.
Why does he do that?
To save the young ones the pain of seeing him die.
For the stink. Out of compassion. Because of dignity.
Three rare virtues.
Even among men.