McDjumbo
Elephant Sandwich
Sometimes a task or concept is so big that it becomes impossible to digest it all at once. We call that an elephant sandwich.
There’s really only one way: start with a piece (leg, trunk), repeat this until all the legs, both ears, and the trunk are gone, and only then start on the belly, maintaining a pace you can maintain. Or work with more people.
In elephants, it’s precisely the older males who are indispensable.
Are older male elephants superfluous to the herd? On the contrary, they are crucial.
Older males play an important leadership role in the group; this is also the case with a herd of elephants in Botswana.
This is often used as an argument by elephant hunters: old male elephants are supposedly no longer important for reproduction, so it wouldn’t be so bad to shoot these individuals – which carry a lot of ivory. But a study published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports leaves little room for this theory. Researchers studied the behavior of over 1,250 male elephants on the African savanna. The results show that older males surprisingly often lead herds with males, suggesting they play an important leadership role during movements. Also striking: older males relatively often explore the route alone, likely because this is too risky for younger elephants. They demonstrate their leadership in all seasons. The researchers, including those from the University of Exeter, conclude that older males are crucial to the group. In recent years, scientists have also discovered how important the role of ‘grandparents’ is in other animal species, such as the orca.
Way of working
Don’t try to do it all at once.
- Start with one leg, and if you know how to handle this size of chunks, then you can move on to the tail, the ears, or the trunk. Those are relatively easy.
– Once you’ve finished one leg, you can gobble up the other three. Or you can start on the head. - The next step is to start gnawing away at the belly. It will probably take you a few weeks, but eventually, you will have eaten the whole elephant.
- You can leave the lettuce and the bread roll. That lettuce will be limp and the bread will be stale by the time you’re done with the elephant.
One way or another, you are still faced with the challenge of eating that elephant. Actually, the most important message is: don’t try to gnaw away at an elephant like that all by yourself. Get help, do it together!