White Elephant (animal)
A white elephant (also albino elephant) is a rare kind of elephant, but not a distinct species. Although often depicted as snow white, their skin is normally a soft reddish-brown, turning a light pink when wet. They have fair eyelashes and toenails.
White elephants are only nominally white. Of those currently kept by the Burmese rulers — General Than Shwe regards himself as the heir of the Burmese kings — one is grey and the other three are pinkish, but all are officially white. The king of Thailand also keeps a number of white elephants. Former U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew once presented a white elephant to King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
Read more about White Elephant (animal): Hinduism, Thailand, Burma, Africa, Western Cultural References
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or elephant:
“Once I had a professor say to me, “You know you have as much education as a lot of white people.” I answered, “Doctor, I have more education than most white people.””
—Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933)
“The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy; his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)