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Ambika is like that annoying practical joker who offers to shake hands and then zaps you with a hand buzzer. Except Ambika is a 57-year-old elephant!
A rather ornery resident of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., Ambika used to be fed next to a younger elephant named Shanthi. Both received a daily ration of apples, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
"One day Ambika pushed her apples over to Shanthi," says Marie Galloway, the zoo's elephant manager. A friendly gesture, right? Shanthi thought so. She took the apples and gave Ambika her carrots. Little did Shanthi know that Ambika's motives were not so pure.
By trading a few times, Ambika lulled Shanthi into trusting her. One morning the unsuspecting Shanthi reached for the apples and...ha! Ambika kicked her! Shanthi wasn't hurt. But the joke was on her. "Ambika set her up," says Galloway. "If an elephant can have a sense of humor, Ambika has one."
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