> a longstanding association of elephants and alcohol in popular thought

What? the hell?

Maybe not watching television for over 20 years has left me more out of touch with "popular thought" than I realized...

Didn't Dumbo get drunk in the eponymous movie?

You don't get more pop than that.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/499983

> The suggestion that the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) becomes intoxicated from eating the fruit of the marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) is an attractive, established, and persistent tale

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article/16/4/2020007...

> Possibly the most iconic is the story of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and marula fruit. According to this widespread lore, elephants across Africa preferentially feed on the fallen, fermenting fruit of the marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea), becoming intoxicated

I remember my grandma doing a drunken "dance of the pink elephants", whatever that is, in the mid-70s. This has been a thing for a while

When I was a kid, animal documentaries usually had a little bit on animals getting drunk from fermented fruit laying on the ground. Drunk elephants were often the highlight, because a stumbling, drunk, elephant is pretty entertaining to watch (although their legal drinking age seems to be MUCH lower than with human societies!).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_pink_elephants

Maybe the Delirium Tremens beer brand from Belgium?

Hence Chang Beer.

Out of touch? Just say "dumb". It's well known animals and especially elephants get their kicks from rotting fruits.