For nearly two thousand years, biologists and philosophers from the time of Aristotle have regarded elephants as highly intelligent creatures, and some even considered them moral agents. For example, a commonly recounted story is that of Chadrasekhan, the elephant who refused to lower a wooden post into a pit containing a sleeping dog until the dog was driven away. Another story is about an elephant that placed vegetation under its feet to avoid sinking into the muddy ground where it was tied and unable to reach dry land. Yet another legend tells of captive elephants stuffing vegetation into their bells so they wouldn't ring when entering a farmer's field at night.
Elephants are incredibly intelligent animals. They have the largest brains of any land animal and three times the number of neurons as humans. While many of these neurons exist to control the elephant's large and agile body, these creatures have demonstrated their impressive intellectual abilities in numerous real-world scenarios. Here are some interesting findings about elephant intelligence.
1. Possibly the ability to recognize languages.
Researchers at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, have discovered that African elephants can distinguish between sexes , ages, and ethnicities through the sounds of human voices. If the voice belongs to someone who poses a threat to them, these elephants will switch to a defensive mode.
To verify this, researchers found two Kenyan men from two different ethnic groups: the Maasai (a semi-nomadic Nilotic ethnic group living in Kenya and northern Tanzania ) and the Kampa. The Maasai have a history of hunting wild elephants, while the Kampa do not. The researchers recorded the two men saying, " Look, look, there's a herd of elephants coming ," in different languages of the two ethnic groups and played the recordings to family elephant herds in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. When the elephants heard the Maasai's voice, they all showed signs of fear, huddled together, and moved away from the source of the voice. However, the same phrase, spoken by a Kampa man, did not elicit any reaction from the elephants. " The ability to distinguish between the voices of Maaasiatic and Kamba people when they say the same sentence in their respective languages suggests that elephants may be able to differentiate between different languages ," said study co-author Graeme Shannon, an exchange student in psychology at the University of Sussex.
In addition, there were other experiments, which involved recordings made by women and children from one of the two tribes that did not affect the elephants, which also showed that they could distinguish not only between ethnic groups but also between age and gender, knowing that men were more likely to pose a danger or threat to their lives, especially Maasai men.
2. Know how to use tools
In 2010, a 7-year-old Asian elephant named Kandula impressed researchers by using tools from its surroundings to pick fruit while lying higher than it could reach . After observing the fruit dangling from a tree for several days, Kandula had an " aha moment "—a moment of self-discovery. Kandula spotted a large plastic box nearby, rolled it, step by step, and stood on one leg high enough to reach the fruit. While Kandula's " aha moment " didn't yield immediate results, it became stuck with the fruit. Kandula repeated the process using a different tool and even figured out how to stack the boxes together to reach higher.
Similarly, the elephant Kandula knew how to use a stick to scratch itself when it couldn't reach, by using a branch or lying down on the grass. In other observations, another elephant dug a small hole to drink water and then covered it with a ball made from chewing bark to prevent the water from evaporating, saving it for later use.
3. Understanding body language
Researchers recently observed evidence that elephants can understand human hand gestures. They tested this by pointing to food hidden inside one of two identical boxes. After observing the two boxes, a group of captive African elephants approached one of them. Without any prior training, these elephants accurately identified the food container in about 68% of the time – 5% less than a one-year-old child performing the same test. When the researchers stood between the two boxes without pointing, the elephants approached the containers randomly.
4. Show empathy
A recent study observed that Asian elephants often comfort each other when distressed. The elephants in the study used both physical and vocal contact, as well as comforting gestures, touching each other's bodies and making small chirping sounds. The study concluded that this behavior is " best categorized with similar comforting responses by apes, possibly based on the convergent evolution of empathy ."
5. Mourning the death of a fellow human being.
Elephants, like any other animal, understand death in much the same way humans do. But elephants have demonstrated a clear reaction to the death of their fellow elephants, displaying emotions often seen in humans, such as grief and mourning. They caress the bones of the deceased elephant and will stand near the body for hours. Sometimes, they even try to bury the remains of the dead elephant. They don't behave this way towards other animals. There is a moving photograph taken by National Geographic photographer John Chaney, of a female elephant " walking very slowly and showing empathy by wrapping her body around a dead elephant's tusk. She remained in this position for several hours ."
6. Mimicking human voices
In 2012, an Asian elephant named Koshik baffled researchers when it was able to say five words in Korean . " Considering the elephant's enormous size, its long vocal tract, and its unique anatomy—for example, elephants have a long trunk instead of lips like other animals… and a large larynx that really suits the high-pitched voice of a trainer—this is truly remarkable, " said Dr. Angela Stoeger, lead author of a study on Koshik published in Current Biology. While Koshik almost certainly didn't understand the meaning of the words, scientists believe the elephant mimicked these sounds as a way to connect with humans, the only form of social interaction Koshik had during its adult years.
7. Possesses an extraordinary memory.
You probably already know this, but let's look at some specific examples. Elephants can remember the way to waterholes even after traveling long distances. This is crucial for elephants living in deserts where water is scarce. Research also shows that elephants often form strong bonds with their peers and can recognize friends and relatives even after long periods of separation. In 2011, Dr. Shermin de Silva, now director of the Uda Walawe Elephant Research Project in Sri Lanka, stated: " Elephants can track each other over great distances by calling to each other and using their sense of smell. Our research shows that they can recognize their friends and reconnect even after being separated for a long time ."
Female elephants encounter and recognize a large number of other individuals daily, likely memorizing their ages, statuses, sexual orientations, personalities, and changing positions. The social complexity of elephants stems in part from this ability, fostering the development of multi-layered social relationships.
Experiments at Amboseli provide good evidence of elephants' strong social behavior and exceptional social memory. Companions use contact calls to maintain contact when they are visually separated, and Karen McComb and colleagues found that female elephants can remember and distinguish contact calls from close companions (family and bond groups) from companions outside their extended family network. Furthermore, they found that female elephants can distinguish the calls of companions from more distant family units depending on the frequency of their encounters. The results of this study showed that female elephants remember contact calls from approximately 14 families within the population (~100 adult female elephants).