Story of elephants 'drunk' on corn whiskey turns out to be 'unreal'

The story of male elephants that got drunk on 30kg of corn whiskey and passed out in the tea gardens, that went viral across the social media, has reportedly been debunked. The picture which was shared on the microblogging site Twitter by an IPS officer HGS Dhaliwal portrayed two of the elephants who got deviated from their herd in Yunnan province, China, got intoxicated and passed out. It so happened, that the elephants did enter a village in Yunnan on March 11, there was, however, no evidence that they drank corn whiskey, according to the research, as per the international media reports. Claims have surfaced after a thorough analysis of the incident that a jar of alcohol was knocked over, and yet, remained unconsumed. The story first originated from the Chinese app WeChat and intrigued the internet into believing the “adorable drunk elephants” narrative that further spread across other social media platforms. A journalist from a renowned international media outlet shared a post on Twitter citing an old piece that confirmed a different story. I’m afraid the drunk elephants story is almost certainly fake. Some elephants did rock up in a village but the “drunk” pics circulated on WeChat & are unrelated. However, I stumbled across this old piece, & this sentence has made up for my disappointment. https://t.co/BoAt6HujEO pic.twitter.com/LFjZdlcUQZ — Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) March 19, 2020 Well, this is for people who actually care, in this Fake News Era: pic.twitter.com/vgyygV6mop — Jordan Roca (@JRoc23) March 19, 2020 As per the study published in the March/April 2006 issue of the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, the intoxicated elephant myth dated back to the centuries. Steve Morris, a biologist at the University of Bristol in England and a co-author of the study, claimed that it was merely a ‘travellers' tales’ from so long back as 1839. There was nothing in the biology to support the drunken elephant theory, he said. Read: Social Distancing Matches Video Explains The Importance Of Staying At Home In The Best Way Read: Coronavirus: Video Of Orangutan's Demonstration Of Proper Hand-washing Goes Viral; Watch Internet users called the picture "sweet" The story, however, had sparked laughter across the internet as users cracked jokes and commented that the picture was “extremely sweet”. The users on Twitter had called the passed-out elephants “too cute to handle”. “Trunken party,” and “Elephantine hangover,” among many other comments. The Tweet had garnered over 1.4k likes and 5.8k likes separately. It was retweeted over 1.3k times as it continues to be circulated on social media even now. Xishuangbana, Yunnan, China. 11 March, a herd of 14 elephants went to village. Looking for corn and other foodstuffs. Apparently, They also polished 30 KG of corn whisky! Two of the males got completely drunk, and made themselves a pair of cutest internet sensation in China. pic.twitter.com/bflXHa8sST — HGS Dhaliwal (@hgsdhaliwalips) March 18, 2020 While humans carry out social distancing, a group of 14 elephants broke into a village in Yunan province, looking for corn and other food. They ended up drinking 30kg of corn wine and got so drunk that they fell asleep in a nearby tea garden. 😂 pic.twitter.com/ykTCCLLCJu — Corono she better don’t (@Spilling_The_T) March 18, 2020 Read: Robert Pattinson's 'Water For Elephants': Fascinating Trivia About The Film Read: Viral Videos From The Week: From Drunk Elephants To Drone Walking A Dog, Watch Them Here

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Story of elephants 'drunk' on corn whiskey turns out to be 'unreal'

It so happened, that the elephants did enter a village in Yunnan on 11 March, there was, however, no evidence that they drank corn whiskey and passed out.

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