Elephants are not afraid of mice. They have never been afraid of mice, and probably won't develop a fear to them in the foreseeable future. But we believe that they do? Where did this myth come from, and why are we so willing to believe it? After all, what business does a large creature like an elephant have to fear from a minuscule mouse?

    The popularity of the myth comes from the fact that mice have startled elephants in the past. Our immediate reaction was to paint the comical picture of a lumbering elephant running from a little mouse. The myth is based on anecdotal evidence that disregards the many times that elephants have shown no fear of mice as well as the times they have been startled by other animals. Whether there was one specific event that started the myth we do not know as the origins of the myth have been lost to us. It has been popularized over the years by movies like Dumbo, but has been refuted by several sources, most notably by Myth Busters.

    In the past, people thought elephants were afraid of mice because they did not want the mice to crawl up their trunks. We now realize that this idea is as ridiculous as it sounds. Elephants do not worry about things crawling up their nose. Instead, they act upon instinct. It was probably the quick, unidentifiable sound that the mouse was making that caused the elephant to sense danger. Just about all creatures fear this simple thing: the unknown. The elephant is no exception. When the elephant cannot identify the sounds coming it hears, its instincts tell it that there is the possibility of danger, and so it will react accordingly.

    So how do we know that elephants are not afraid of mice in particular? A simple experiment will suffice to demonstrate. A random sample of elephants can be taken, and mice can be brought up to the elephants. A not so random sample would probably work just as well, such as that done by the Barnum and Bailey circus to their flock of elephants. The result of the experiment was that the elephants simply ignored the mice. The presence of the rodents had absolutely no effect on the temperament of the elephants.

    The lesson we can take from this? Don't necessarily believe what you are told. It would never make sense for a creature so large to fear a creature so small that causes it no physical threat. On an intuitive level, we are willing to believe this myth because we know human beings are afraid of bugs. But in the animal kingdom, things are much different. Elephants are not as irrational as we are. They fear only what they should indeed fear
 
    大象不怕小老鼠。它们从来就没有怕过，在可预见的未来也不大可能会。但我们怎么会确信它们害怕老鼠呢？这个传说是哪儿来的，我们又为什么愿意相信它是真的呢？说到底，一个像大象这样的大家伙，究竟为什么要害怕像小老鼠这样一个小不点儿呢？

    关于“大象怕老鼠”传说的由来，流行的说法是因为在过去小老鼠惊吓到了大象。我们的第一反应，应该是在脑海中浮现出一幅图画，上面有一只笨重的大象被一只小老鼠追着跑。虽然大象是被其它动物惊吓过，但是这个有趣的传说还是忽略了一个事实，那就是大象从来没有对老鼠表现出过恐惧。究竟是不是有那么一次，“怕老鼠”的事真的发生了，所以才有了“怕老鼠”这个传说，我们也不知道，因为传说的来源我们也搞不清楚了。“大象怕老鼠”的说法经过《小飞象（Dumbo）》等等电影的传播，变得越来越流行，但同时也被许多证据所批驳，其中最有名的证据来自电视节目《Myth Busters》。

    过去人们之所以认为大象害怕老鼠，是因为怕老鼠会顺着它们的长鼻子爬上来。现在我们知道了，这个想法听起来确实挺滑稽的。大象不怕什么东西会爬进它们的鼻子里，它们只凭着本能做出反应。倒是老鼠发出的急促而又无法辨认的声音，很可能让大象觉得危险。所有的生物都害怕一样东西：未知的事物。大象也不例外。当大象辨认不出它听到的不断接近的声响时，它的本能就会告诉它：可能有危险。于是它就会做出相应的反应。

    那么，我们又是怎么知道大象尤其不怕老鼠呢？一个简单的实验就足以证明了。随机找一只大象，再把老鼠放在大象面前。不是随机找的大象也行，因为Barnum和Bailey马戏团用他们的一群大象也做过类似实验。实验的结果是，大象根本就把老鼠当成空气，也就是说，老鼠的存在压根不会影响大象的心情。

    这个破解传说的过程又教会了我们什么呢？说到底也就是：不要不加考虑地相信别人告诉你的一切。说一个这么大的动物会害怕另一个对它构不成任何身体上的威胁的小动物，本来就是无稽之谈。从直觉上讲，我们愿意相信这种传说，因为我们知道人害怕小虫子。但在动物的王国里，事情就大不一样了。大象不像我们这样荒唐，它们只害怕它们真正害怕的