'Smoke-Breathing' Elephant Stumps Scientists

"I believe the elephant may have been trying to ingest wood charcoal," Varun Goswami, Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) India program scientist and an elephant biologist, said in a statement. "She appeared to be picking up pieces from the forest floor, blowing away the ash that came along with it, and consuming the rest."
Eating charcoal — which is made mostly of carbon and formed from the heating of wood in low-oxygen conditions — is not unheard of. Colobus monkeys apparently consume such char, possibly to counteract toxins in some of the foods they eat.
"Charcoal has toxin-binding properties that may provide medicinal value," Goswami said, adding that it can also act as a laxative.