Wild elephant 'smoking' caught on camera

[Still Waters]

Quote

An elephant in India seems to have a smoking habit. Conservation scientists spotted the pachyderm hoisting chunks of ashen wood into its mouth and then blowing out puffs of smoke.

"I believe the elephant may have been trying to ingest wood charcoal," Varun Goswami, Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) India program scientist and an elephant biologist, said in a statement. "She appeared to be picking up pieces from the forest floor, blowing away the ash that came along with it, and consuming the rest."

https://www.livescience.com/62105-smoking-breathing-elephant-explained.html

[acute]

Some pregnant women crave coal, so maybe this elephant is eating for two!

[Hawken]

Maybe she likes a Cuban Cigar once in a while.

 

[Nnicolette]

It's that charcoal fad. She's probably trying to whiten her teeth.

[Echoes]

Fire-breathing elephants? What next!? 

[Jon the frog]

Really good for the stomach when eating toxic plants, helping digestion and getting rid of tannin,  monkey do it too.

[Fila]

1 hour ago, Jon the frog said:

Really good for the stomach when eating toxic plants, helping digestion and getting rid of tannin,  monkey do it too.

Yea, I think this may be the reason why.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15520940-800-eat-your-charcoal-son/

[qxcontinuum]

Humans do it as well. The old fashion pills against bloating were charcoal.  Worked like magic. Amazing though that animals have know cure methods. True sign of intelligence. 

[curiouse]

That’s just dust or Ash. Me thinks!

[Hankenhunter]

9 hours ago, Fila said:

Yea, I think this may be the reason why.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15520940-800-eat-your-charcoal-son/

My mother's pantry had a quart jar full of charcoal for intestinal troubles. This was in the sixties. I don't know if it was a placebo effect or not, but it sure seem to work for my five brothers and I. 

Hank

[Matt221]

He's rolled a fat one an elephant smoking skunk...

[krone]

She may be pregnant, pica (consumption of non food items like mud or charcoal) is common in pregnant mammals.