Elephants v humans in one-sided eating competition
Three 'competitive eaters' take on a trio of three-ton Asian elephants to see who can eat the most hot dog buns, for reasons that are not made entirely clear
4 July 2009
THAT elephants can eat more than most people is not exactly news. That elephants eat more than Americans, however, might just be.
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Three American "competitive eaters" – yes, it's a profession – have taken on three Asian elephants in a hot-dog-bun-eating competition in New York.
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What’s particularly entertaining is that they were genuinely surprised when they lost.
Juliet Lee, Gravy Brown and Eric "Badlands" Booker ate an impressive 143 buns in the allotted six minutes.
"I expected that the humans would beat them"
But circus jumbos Bunny, Susie and Minnie were not to be outdone, thrashing them more than three to one with a score of 505 buns at the inaugural Coney Island bun-eating contest.
The event took place to mark American Independence Day.
George Shea, the chairman of Major League Eating – a sort of Football Association for professional face-stuffers – seemed startled that the three-ton pachyderms beat his brave boys and girl.
He said: "This was a great challenge for our species. I expected that the humans would beat them."
The elephants, who eat about 10 per cent of their body weight every day, up to 440lb (200kg), scooped up buns by the trunkful, leaving their nominal opponents eating little but their dust.
Booker, 39, a train conductor in his day job, said somewhat bitterly: "I can't compete with that.
"If I had an elephant's trunk, I could also eat a dozen buns at one time."
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