Yes you shoot faster but as said before you apply much more damages. Tranq arrows, everybody I know prefers the crossbow in that situation. But if all you have is standard darts vs. They watch from a distance to be sure the elephant stays safe.Īnd the elephant wanders away, perhaps a bit confused, from the strangest nap they’ve ever had.ĭr.Originally posted by A Frosty Kallnah:From my experience crossbows have a higher rate of fire and if you get one with a decent quality you'll probably knocked out whatever it is you're trying to knock out a lot faster than if you're sitting there trying to reload that rifle the sole exception being if you have access to shock darts, those are the way to go. Once the work is done, veterinarians give another drug to wake the elephant. It takes a lot of work and a lot of people,” Grubb said. “It can be very complicated to support a big elephant.
They help the elephant into a safe, comfortable position, often with ropes. Veterinarians might have only 30 minutes before the elephant wakes up, so they work quickly. The animal won’t have dreams, but they’ll be completely unaware. The drug causes changes in the brain similar to a nap, but much deeper. Sleeping drugs work by shutting those chemicals off for a while. Some of those chemicals send messages that keep the elephant awake. Within the brain, chemicals send signals to the rest of the body.
Their blood carries the drug to the brain. Once the drug enters the elephant’s muscle, changes begin. “It’s just like the doctor pushing the plunger on the syringe, except the doctor isn’t there.” When it meets resistance, the plunger makes that little charger go,” Grubb said. “The dart flies through the air, meets resistance, and stops. So darts have a built-in device to do this, usually a container of tightly packed air. A plunger pushes that drug into the needle.īut the veterinarian can’t inject the drug from far away. Anesthetics cause animals to sleep long enough for people to handle them.ĭarts look similar to a needle and syringe, like your doctor uses. If the animal just needs to stay calm, the dart will contain tranquilizers.īut if the animal needs to be completely still and unable to feel pain, the dart will also have anesthetics. Tranquilizers help animals become less excited, while still awake.
Different drugs have different effects on the body and brain. Depending on what needs to be done, darts contain different kinds of calming drugs. Veterinarians and other scientists use sleeping darts to safely handle wild animals, including sick or injured creatures. She is a veterinarian at Washington State University who specializes in anesthesiology, drugs that make animals calm, sleepy, or unable to feel pain. “It’s safer for both the humans and the elephant because the humans aren’t right next to a wild animal, and the animal isn’t being chased to try to catch it,” Dr. That’s why sleeping darts-also known as tranquilizer darts-help so much. They may get confused and scared, until it’s too dangerous to help them. (And that a treat might await you at the end.)īut if an elephant gets sick, they can’t understand a doctor’s words.
You may not enjoy all of the visit, but you understand the doctor wants to help you. Some people get nervous when they go to the doctor.