And if there really are white elephants, are they REALLY white, or just albino and less gray or something?
If they really exist, I'd like to see a photo of one. I tried to do an image search and only found fake white elephants.
2007-06-16 19:41:19 · 7 answers · asked by Heron By The Sea 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
A White elephant really mean " A valuable possession whose upkeep is excessively expensive".
There is no white elephant excising literally.
There was a Bengali (Indian) Movie by Tapan Sinha named "Safed Hatti" meaning white elephant in which they painted an elephant with white paint and it was looking very bad in the picture..
2007-06-19 06:01:28 · answer #1 · answered by Jayaraman 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes there are white elephants, probably of an albino strain. They are considered to be holy by several Southeast Asian religions. And since they are holy, they can not be used as war elephants, or as work elephants, they must be feed and cared for lavishly.
I've heard that the Emperors of Annam (Vietnam) would give a white elephant to a nobleman they wished to destroy, as the upkeep of the holy elephant would lead to financial ruin.
Doc
2007-06-17 02:59:02 · answer #2 · answered by Doc Hudson 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no there is no white elephant on the earth. actually this is used as a phrase its meaning is a kind of work in which a lot of money and time is consumed but the gain is nothing or very less.
e.g. if somebody says that we make bridge on ocean then this is white elephant like project. the coast is so much but the result is very low
2007-06-17 04:10:44 · answer #3 · answered by upendra 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is more like a religious myth and could be highly possible that there is a white elephant, but has several defects such as color so finding a PURE white elephant is very rare.
2007-06-20 14:34:02 · answer #4 · answered by Shayna I 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think albinism is possible in any species. But perhaps in some it has been culled out because they become so obvious and make a target for hunters. If that does happen, it would seem the larger the animal, the larger the target. I don't think there is a separate variety which is white, that is which breeds true as white. If there were, we'd have photos by now. Like I say, obvious target -- for camera as much as for gun.
2007-06-17 06:52:58 · answer #5 · answered by auntb93 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope no white elephants, the closest is an albino elephant and even that isn't white its just light brownish/grayish.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40501000/jpg/_40501835_sue2203-bbc.jpg
2007-06-17 02:53:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is white elephant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_%28pachyderm%29
It is a also terminology for some thing useless for which you have paid a price
2007-06-17 02:54:25 · answer #7 · answered by Mein Hoon Na 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋