We ’ve long known that elephants are intelligent animal , whoremember migration itinerary for decadesandappear to mourn their dead . But a new study propose we may have been underestimating them — because our methods of testing intelligence information in animals are biased .
In a gripping National Geographic clause , Karl Gruber report new intelligence experiments on elephants that reveal the fauna may be a lot more feeling - oriented than we take in . elephant employ their noses the same style we use our hand , and their trunk are for sensing the earth with sense of touch as well as revoke thing up to prove them . As a answer , odor is as crucial to elephants as touch is to humans .
But few scientific studies have ever used smell as a way of examination elephant intelligence . Until now .
Writes Gruber :
In the study , sevenAsian elephantsfirst had to opt between two buckets that were likely source of food ( one pail had solid food and one did n’t ) , a standard “ localisation trial ” of animal smartness in monkeys , birds , andiron , and other creatures .
The elephants were remind with a sound , the shaking of a shut bucketful to reveal whether it contained helianthus cum . In this first test , the elephant ’ odds of pick the full pail were no better than chance .
In the 2d part of the study , however , the elephants were allow to smell one of two buckets , either an empty one or one that smelled of food . The elephants had to select between the bucketful they had smelled and a new , mystery bucketful . Elephants that were first give away to an empty bucket always rejected this bucket and pick out the “ mystery story ” pail instead .
This suggest that elephants are using smell as part of their decisiveness - making cognitive operation . They remember that the first bucket did not smell of intellectual nourishment and choose the other choice .
In other words , when elephants had a odor cue , it allowed them to make more intelligent decision than they did without it . These elephantine animals may be a lot smarter than we make , and we just could n’t perceive it because we quiz their I.Q. the same way we ’d test human IQ .
Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal told Gruber :
For too long , we have test all sorts of animals on stimuli that we , humans , find most salient . We thus stack the deck of cards against animal that differ from ourselves , and sometimes conclude from negative outcome that they are dumb than us .
Read the whole articleat National Geographic
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