Claim: Prayers are needed to help keep the world’s smallest elephant alive.

FALSE

Examples: [Collected on the Internet, October 2011]



Can you give away your life 5 min by praying for the worlds smallest elephant. He is fighting for his life so please pray for him by liking & sharing this status Can you give away your life 5 min by praying for the worlds smallest elephant. He is fighting for his life so please pray for him by liking & sharing this status Thank you…



Origins: Unfortunately, prayers (and Facebook status sharing) aren’t going to help the tiny pachyderm pictured above, as it is neither the world’s smallest elephant nor is it fighting for its life. Even newborn elephants typically weigh about 200-250 lbs. at birth and stand about three feet tall — the one pictured here appears so small because it’s the dead fetus of an elephant that was aborted or otherwise removed from its (presumably deceased) mother. Additional photographs of the fetus (identified as such) can be viewed on this web album.