Top: in Donkey Kong Bananza, the elephants in the Tempest Layer are a community of weather forecasters. While at first this appears to be simply a deliberately odd combination, similarly to the zebra ice cream makers or snake sculptors found elsewhere in the game, this may actually be based on a real-world scientific fact about elephants.
Bottom: it was long suspected and finally confirmed in a 2014 study that, using a combination of not yet understood subtle signs in the environment, elephants are able to predict rainfall from 150 miles away and migrate towards it to increase chances of finding food and water. It is theorized that the mechanism of their detection involves their acute hearing and an ability to sense atmospheric pressure changes.
Whether this connection is deliberate or merely a remarkable coincidence is unknown.
Source: altermentality, original study
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