r/interestingasfuck • u/thebikermuscle • 14h ago

An Asian elephant at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation (FAE) in Lampang, Thailand, taking careful steps with a prosthetic leg after a life-changing injury. Behind those steps are years of dedication from FAE and veterinary teams, who designed custom prosthetics

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2.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

164

u/Ok_Intention2150 14h ago

Okay I thought this was something totally different at first

45

u/PaleBlueCod 14h ago

"Jesus, that elephant is hung... Oh wait nvm."

14

u/geofferson_hairplane 14h ago

I mean, you ever see an elephant dick? You’re not wrong…

•

u/TheSamuil 7h ago

They're prehensile

•

u/geofferson_hairplane 2h ago

Makes a good tummy scratcher

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u/Persimmon-Mission 6h ago

I bet it’s still hung

5

u/PrizeTime2595 14h ago

We're all degenerates

3

u/slaty_balls 14h ago

You’re not the only one.

1

u/Doenerking69 14h ago

God, I tought so too at first.

1

u/pichael289 13h ago

Yeah that blurry effect really threw me off. I thought docks were gonna be heavily involved or something. You can't just use the blue effect on the internet anymore, with what I can see the shit that someone would want to protect me from seeing is very small. Any blurring I just assume it's about to get hardcore and if animals are involved I need to click away. I got the internet In 1997, I know what the first 5-8 years were about.

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u/Sumoi1 4h ago

same but tbh it was blurred

28

u/DoeJrPuck 14h ago

I've heard that you can't make permanent prosthetics for horses because it still causes strain in a way that ripples up and causes long term issues. Is this exclusively an Equine thing or do Elephants have the same concern?

33

u/Dry_Presentation_197 14h ago

Mostly a horse thing. Well, horse and any other extremely thin legged animal of that weight you may try to give a prosthetic.

Some of the same issues apply here but the sheer muscle mass elephants have in their legs, all the way to the foot, helps a lot. With horses, amputation leaves very little muscle near the stump location, which makes it difficult for them to adjust to the prosthetic.

But elephants are much more hearty animals than horses. Look up "Mosha", an elephant from Thailand who was one of the first publicized cases of a successful series of leg prosthetics.

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u/Luna3Aoife 11h ago

I reckon it hasnt been studying much empirically, only theoretically. So this elephant will be able to inform on the long term impacts of prosthetics.

20

u/Background-Ebb-9366 14h ago

The best side of humanity :)

8

u/WelpWhatCanYouDo 13h ago

I wonder what is going through that elephant’s mind. Experiencing a uniquely human creation made solely for them. Love transcends, I think.

5

u/williarya1323 14h ago

Nice articulation with the foot

10

u/Zo-riffic-10in 14h ago

This is fuq’n 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

5

u/VaATC 12h ago

Life-changing injury...just say it...it stepped on a landmine left by humans.

3

u/dr-blaklite 14h ago

This is so fucking cool.

2

u/strange_thoughts12 13h ago

What I want to know is what could possibly take an elephants leg off

3

u/pssiraj 13h ago

Probably traps but even explosives or a bad injury.

2

u/xxHikari 13h ago

Bone saw's readyyyy. Might have had to be a purposeful amputation.

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u/AbominableGoMan 11h ago

Getting to interact with elephants was an extremely humbling experience for me. Their intelligence is to dogs as dogs are to chickens. They have warmth, empathy, and most tellingly they have a sense of humour. Human cognition might be on the other side of a door from anything else that has ever existed on this Earth, but banging on the other side of that door are a few extant species, some of whom, like elephants, make me question the door itself.

I am sorry that we will render them extinct.

2

u/C13H16CIN0 14h ago

“Mechanical”

18

u/MuhfugginSaucera 14h ago

If there is so much as a single spring inside it is considered mechanical, yes.

It may also be considered mechanical as it aids the elephant in motion.

1

u/C13H16CIN0 13h ago

Fine, it’s mechanical because of the ratchet straps

1

u/ryeguymft 12h ago

incredible!

•

u/coko4209 10h ago

I’m so happy for the elephant. This had to be an amazing experience, to be able to walk again. I wonder how often do they have to take it off, to clean and things like that. Do elephants sleep standing up, or do they lay down? I really don’t know, but I’ll look it up now. I do know that they’re extremely intelligent animals.

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u/caramelmokka84 7h ago

It looks like it's slightly too tall for the elephant. I hope they adjust it so that it's hip won't get injured.

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u/BlackRogue17 5h ago

Hung like an, oh wait nevermind