Didn't anyone consider the possibility that it was rolling piece of excrement attached to a string that made them sidestep? Wouldn't YOU step to the side?

I agree, it seems the moving dung would have been more of an attention-getter than the mouse that doesn't move.

because they did that where they removed the mouse and just rolled the dung in front of the elephant and it walked right by like nothing happened. So yes they did consider that, and then test and prove it!

That is true. They should have done a test without the mouse in it, and just the dung. And another thing...does anyone see the wires going across the screen in one of the close up slow-mo shots at the end? Maybe the elephant saw the wire fence, and turned around because it didn't want to go through it. Stop it around 3:18-3:21

I saw this episode. The guys ran the test three times. The first with a mouse the second with just the dung ball and the third with the mouse again.

In the second test, the elephant never even twitched. I believe it was the mouse that caused the effect.

In the actual episode, they did a control to see if it was just the moving dung that startled 'em. The elephant noticed the moving dung and just walked by unfazed.

I have every bit of faith in the Mythbusters. They do make slight oversights but not so obvious ones. If they were stunned by the results then they must have made every effort to make sure that they were correct.

Ever consider that elephants don't want to hurt the mouse and so step aside?

haha.. that guy with the black jacket is sick! he put the mouse in his mouth.. the same mouse which was inside the elephant dung.. lol.. what these guys would do in the name of science..

okay the mice are white come on what if it was a brown one ? what if you put a white rabbit it would do the same thing because of contast of the ground.

I wonder if the color of the mouse had aught to do with it.

What if the elephant was just cautious not to step on the little creature?

I heard that Elephants are indeed shy of mice. They fear that the mice can enter the Elephants trunk and cause problems up there.

What would of happened if the mouse was a different color?
Say, brown/gray instead of white?

During the first test, the elephant sees the dung move, but doesn't actually stop until it sees the mouse. Watch it closely. Did anyone else notice the reaction of the elephant? It seemed more disgusted than scared.

They did a run with no mouse and just the piece of dung and there was no response. The elephant just walked on by.

@Jessica, while watching this I had the same thought. These elephants live in an environment where everything is brown, tan, or green. A white mouse sticks out like a sore thumb and of course would scare the heck out of them. They should have also tested this with a different colored mouse(black, brown) to see if it gave the same result.

The reason elephants are afraid of mice is actually very simple. If a mouse comes in contact with a sleeping elephant it will chew its way into and underneath its 'toe nails' i know it doesn't seem like they have any, but they do. So the mouse chews through, the elephant can't feel it but the mouse hole is then expanded into the foot of the elephant and it is in tremendous pain after a few days. Why mice do this is beyond me but my grandfather worked at the zoo, he was among the first to bring an elephant into a Russian zoo. He told me about this phenomenon when I was a little girl. Sure enough myth busters just confirmed this.

HEY! I believed this until I saw the shot of the fence. There are hardly noticeable WIRES there and the elephants are moving away from them so they don't trip themselves, not the mice...

oh well.. just as they are afraid of mice, other large objects are also afraid of small things. like for example a big gasoline station or a large hall of fireworks would be so afraid of a tiny flame from a match stick... (isn't it logical?) haha

Actually, (to Sierra) the wiring didnt bother the elephants in the control experiment shown in the full episode. and as mentioned, they control run showed that the moving pile of dung did not seem to bother the elephants. also, any human smell wouldnt have caused the reaction either because these elephants have been around humans, they are fed by humans so.... it seems to the be the mouse in this particular scenario.
Still, I have seen many articles saying otherwise, but whatever. mythbusters is fun! yea! ;D

omg u people. they just did the freakin thing!! just let it go okay... the elephants obviously noticed it and i dont think it was because of color OR string so just shut up and face the facts.

I think it's important to keep in mind the difference between a "plausible" and "confirmed" myth. Mythbusters are only saying there is a chance this myth is true...not that it definitely is not.

The elephants likely were startled by the sudden appearance of something white on the ground. They should have used a dark coloured mouse. I checked out this myth and found an entry at the Snopes website which states that the myth is false. They said if there is any truth to the legend, it "likely comes from elephants being anxious about nearby sounds or movements they can't identify, such as that caused by mice darting around underfoot. Other websites (such as the ABC news site and the upali.ch site) also state that elephants are not afraid of mice.

Just because you can see the fence in the shot dosen't mean it was even remotly close to where the elephant was. If the fence is anywhere between the camera and the subject it will show up....the fence still could be 20' from them and look right there in the image.

To borrow the words of another, "hey, I'd be freaked out too if a mouse came out of a piece of my crap."

i just watched the episode, if you listen to when they first where the "myth" originated it was said that if it went anywhere near their food they wouldn't eat it, perhaps it is something to do with contamination or something, also when they moved the dung without the mouse the elephant moved forward un-fazed AND walked through the string, it clearly WAS the mouse that affected the elephant, why? i dont know, maybe they hate the smell of a mouse, the test showed that an elephant DOES react to a mouse! maybe they hate the popping noise when they stand on them...lol