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Re: Ain't No Mountain Low Enough [elephants don't like steep terrain]




In his attempt to conquer the western world in 218 B.C.E., Carthaginian general Hannibal famously lost all but one of his elephants while crossing the Alps. A new study may explain why: Elephants just don't dig climbing.

It took a lot more than vertigo to kill off Hannibal's war elephants. Those same elephants had crossed the Pyrenees long before they reached the Alps.


More than just a single elephant survived the journey over the Alps. Those few that did survive reportedly keeled over in the marshy banks of the Arno the following year, just before the Battle of Lake Trasimene.

Cheers

Tim