Comments on: Red Elephants of New Guinea

By: gizmology

gizmology — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:40:23 +0000

The possibility of secret red elephants in New Guinea may be slim, but after reading the whole discussion, I find that they have very confidently taken up residence in my head. I just joined cryptomundo.com on the basis of this thread.

By: brwn8484

brwn8484 — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:14:56 +0000

I grew up in New Guinea and spent 12 years in the jungles. My father was a Missionary and travelled extensively (on foot)in the Highlands (Mountain) regions of Papua and New Guinea from 1950 to 1970’s.

I have never seen nor heard of elephants anywhere in Papua, New Guinea or the Indonesian western half of the Island. Also, it would seem extremely unlikely for a species as large as an elephant to remain hidden in a remote area of the Island for long periods of time.

By: TheLibrarian

TheLibrarian — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:42:05 +0000

Maybe they came from a circus train wreck?

By: rl_esteves

rl_esteves — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:57:13 +0000

maybe the canyon is the answer.

By: Terry W. Colvin

Terry W. Colvin — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:59:03 +0000

Yeah, could have swum over and could have reddish tint from the reddish dust/mud but more likely not elephants or just Navy pilot humor. BTW, during the Vietnam festivities the Americans, Vietnamese and Thais used elephants to hault equipment and to construct communications sites in SE Asia. Elephants don’t do well in jungles and they won’t work above a few thousand feet due to less oxygen.

By: shunsuke

shunsuke — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:55:20 +0000

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my question. I will contact the publisher of the Japanese book to see if I can reach the author.

I also found a Japanese wesite regarding “Red Elephants in New Guinea” (http://umafan.blog72.fc2.com/blog-entry-258.html) if you can read Japanese. In the website, the writer speculates that there is a possibility of undiscovered species of large marsupial that somewhat resembled elephants.

But it is interesting to hear about the theory of Asian elephants that were brought to New Guinea during WWII.

Thanks for great information.

By: i am sasquatch

i am sasquatch — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:04:48 +0000

This is interesting: http://www.omniology.com/Micro-EvolutionOfElephants.html

By: DARHOP

DARHOP — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:38:40 +0000

Don’t elephants swim? Isn’t New Guinea an Island? Could an elephant swim to New Guinea? Or would it be too far for them to swim even if they can swim? But if they aren’t native to the Island they must of got there by swimming. I think the mud theory is a pretty good explanation for the color.

By: sausage1

sausage1 — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:33:25 +0000

Really interesting story. Where else could you find a little gem like this?

By: corrick

corrick — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:32:32 +0000

Good critical thinking sschaper. And, IF the story is true and the pilots actually saw elephants it’s a pretty convincing arguement.
A very small group of Asian elephants are introduced to New Guinea during WWII by the US, Aussies or even more likely, the Japanese to aid in jungle constuction. All are the same sex for obvious reasons.
WWII is is over and the elephants are abandoned, left to fend for themselves. Elephants are herd animals so whatever number remains stay together. Elephants live a long time. Elephants roll in mud. New Guinea has plenty of red mud.
Bottomline, in 1952, some American pilots might have sighted a last small herd of non-breeding Asian elephants that had recently rolled in red New Guinea mud. Naturally, none are still alive today.
But the most important thing about the story is the credibility of the original sources, documentation. Otherwise, it’s just another internet myth.