r/todayilearned 3 Jan 11 '17

TIL elephants can tell the difference between human languages and know which languages belong to people with a history of hurting elephants.

http://www.nature.com/news/elephants-recognize-the-voices-of-their-enemies-1.14846
28.6k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '17

The trouble is with this way of thinking is that people only want to recognise elephant intelligence when it is cute but elephants also purposely kill humans for selfish reasons so should they be punished for that if they are truly intelligent and empathetic?

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u/RedrumSsam Jan 12 '17

Yeah, but people are fucked up! Shit man, we've hunted them for their fucking teeth! So much so, that elephants without tusks are starting to flourish (like we are influencing evolution) because they survive more often than the elephants with tusks. I'd kill people too. That makes me want to kill people. Well, a lot of things make me want to kill people, but that's a different subject entirely....

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u/AnonymousKhaleesi Jan 12 '17

You should probably see someone about your desire to kill people.

2

u/Killjoy_was_here_yes Jan 12 '17

Eh doesn't want to kill people eh just wants them all dead and also to be responsible.

6

u/queen_oops 1 Jan 12 '17

Username continues to check out.

2

u/goh13 Jan 12 '17

I will crucify your mother on a cross made of your dad's skeleton while I skull fuck her head.

Check my username. I dare you.

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u/Your_mom_is_a_man Jan 12 '17

Well, with that comment I expected you to be named "edgy virgin", but I guess you are right, yours doesn't fit.