elephant intelligence
Elephants have more in common with humans than you would think. They have amazing, long-lasting memories that allow them to remember their various migration routes and their loved ones, which sometimes includes their human caretakers. This memory of theirs even enables them to hold grudges! Elephants also mourn their dead. Though other animals have been proven to grieve, as well, elephants are the only animals aside from humans to have any kind of recognizable ritual around death. They have the ability to understand gestures without ever even being taught, such as pointing, which was just recently discovered. They form tight-knit social groups, led by a matriarch, that closely resembles the connections humans make with others. Like us, they can communicate with each other in their own unique way and even have their own sign language. They love to play games and have been known to display a sense of humor, such as teasing visitors at zoos. They, like many primates, use tools to accomplish tasks, such as using sticks to scratch their backs and placing bark over water holes to keep the water from evaporating. Another tool they use are paintbrushes. Elephants are one of several species that are able to produce art, though it is disputed if they are actually creative or if they are just able to learn a sequence of strokes. One of the most widely-known things about elephants is that they exhibit self-awareness. One of the least commonly-known things about elephants is that they are able to self-medicate. An example of this includes an African elephant chewing on the leaves of a Boraginaceae tree to induce childbirth. These are only a few things about the intelligence of elephants; however, there is still so much more to learn about these amazing creatures. I believe that discoveries will continue to be made that will make our appreciation of, and fascination with, these animals grow even more.
Now, these gentle giants are gaining recognition from the scientific community and from everyone else around the world due to their amazing intelligence that caught everyone off guard. Who could have guessed that apes and dolphins would have some competition in the world of science? News reporters all over the globe are beginning to talk about these creatures, due to the fascination that humans feel for these amazing, yet mysterious creatures. Below is only a handful of articles about elephants and how smart they really are.
Now, these gentle giants are gaining recognition from the scientific community and from everyone else around the world due to their amazing intelligence that caught everyone off guard. Who could have guessed that apes and dolphins would have some competition in the world of science? News reporters all over the globe are beginning to talk about these creatures, due to the fascination that humans feel for these amazing, yet mysterious creatures. Below is only a handful of articles about elephants and how smart they really are.
Click on any of the links to discover new things!
Elephants Communicate in Sophisticated Sign Language, Researchers Say
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/elephants-communicate-in-sophisticated-sign-language-researchers-say/
Brainy Elephants: One More Way They're as Smart as Humans
http://science.time.com/2013/10/10/brainy-elephants-one-more-way-theyre-as-smart-as-humans/
Elephant Society 'Still Disrupted Decades After Cull'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24754682
Elephant Makes a Stool--First Known Aha Moment for Species
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110819-elephant-eureka-aha-moment-zoo-intelligence-science-plos/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_n1p_us_se_w#finished
For Elephants, Indian Festival Season is Pure Torture
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sangita-iyer/captive-elephants-india_b_4372847.html
The Amazing Intelligence of Elephants
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/elephants-intelligence-pointing-hunted
Elephantine Intelligence
http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic5/elephant.htm
Elephants Outwit Humans During Intelligence Test
http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/elephants-intelligence-test-110307.htm
Elephant Intelligence: Animal Learning On Par With Great Apes and Dolphins, New Study Reveals
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/elephant-intelligence-study_n_832522.html
Elephants Cooperate, Proving How Smart They Really Are
http://www.livescience.com/13108-elephants-cooperate-intelligent-behavior.html
Elephants Understand Human Gesture, No Training Needed
http://www.livescience.com/40319-elephants-understand-pointing-gestures.html
Little Elephant Shows Big Brains
http://www.livescience.com/15647-elephant-problem-solving.html
Elephants Get the Point of Pointing, Study Shows
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/science/elephants-get-the-point-of-pointing-study-shows.html?_r=1&
Goodbye My Friend
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2439543/Elephant-mourns-dead-friend-guards-body-moving-photo-vigil.html
Elephants Really Do Grieve Like Us
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270977/Elephants-really-grieve-like-They-shed-tears-try-bury-dead--leading-wildlife-film-maker-reveals-animals-like-us.html
Elephant 'Self-Portrait' On Show
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/5203120.stm
Fact or Fiction? : Elephants Never Forget
http://www.elefantasia.org/spip.php?breve165
Long-Term Memory May Help Elephants Survive Climate Change
http://www.elefantasia.org/spip.php?breve149
Another Remarkable Example of How Smart Elephants Are
http://io9.com/elephants-innately-understand-what-it-means-to-point-1443289293
Zoologists Capture Elephant's 'Eureka!' Moment
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/elephant-intelligence/
Theory of Mind and Insight in Chimpanzees, Elephants, and Other Animals?
http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/ElephantCorner/Conscrev.htm
Elephant Cognition
http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/ElephantCorner/EI.htm
The Remarkable Intelligence of Elephants
http://juliettespeaks.org/the-remarkable-intelligence-of-elephants/
Elephant Intelligence: Revenge Attacks Carried Out in India After Herd Member Was Killed By Train
http://www.hngn.com/articles/9839/20130810/elephant-intelligence-cognition-revenge-attacks-carried-out-india-herd-member.htm
Testing Elephant Intelligence
http://therainforestsite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/trs/article/Testing-Elephant-Intelligence333
Elephant Evolution and Intelligence
http://suite101.com/a/elephant-evolution-and-intelligence-a167231
We Aren't the Only Smart Ones
http://teacherweb.com/BLOG/MA/LittletonMiddleSchool/MsFinnerty/1/blog.aspx?Post=fc8e3bd4-b5dc-4e90-8ea9-9dc09509294b
A Moment of Zen: "Elephant Intelligence"
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/10/a-moment-of-zen-elephant-intelligence-a-mystery-of-our-universe.html
The 10 Smartest Animals
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24628983/
On the Intelligence of Elephants
http://www.cinchreview.com/on-the-intelligence-of-elephants/11265/
Mirrors Reflect Elephants' Intelligence
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/mirrors-reflect-elephants-intelligence/2006/10/31/1162278140389.html
The Intelligence of Beasts
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Intelligence-of-Beasts/127969/
The Intelligence in Creation: Example, the Elephant
http://tompost.org/2012/06/27/wonder-the-intelligence-in-creation-example-the-elephant/
Elephant Intelligence & Society
http://www.everythingology.com/elephant-intelligence-society/
Pity the Elephants
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/355008/pity-elephants-rich-lowry
The Brains of the Animal Kingdom
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323869604578370574285382756
Elephants Give Each Other A Helping Trunk
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/03/08/elephants-give-each-other-a-helping-trunk/
Embrace Your Inner Elephant
http://www.sundryshuffle.com/embrace-your-inner-elephant/
Elephant Personalities Revealed by Scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9638340/Elephant-personalities-revealed-by-scientists.html
Animal Intelligence Badly Underestimated
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/8474758/Animal-intelligence-badly-underestimated
Research Shows Elephants Recognize Cooperation
http://abcnews.go.com/US/elephants-recognize-assistance-researchers/story?id=13074769
Insightful Problem-Solving in an Asian Elephant
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023251
Elephants and Humans Evolved Similar Solutions to Problems of Gas-Guzzling Brains
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/16/elephants-and-humans-evolved-similar-solutions-to-problems-of-gas-guzzling-brains/
Elephants Recognize Selves in Mirror, Study Says
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061030-asian-elephants.html
Baby Elephant Cries For 5 Hours After Mom Attacks, Rejects Him
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/baby-elephant-cries_n_3920685.html
Von Economo Neurons in the Elephant Brain
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19089889
What is the Depth of Elephant Emotions?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/unforgettable/emotions.html
In Africa, Decoding the "Language" of Elephants
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0221_030221_elephantvocal1.html
They're Gay, They Grieve, and They're Left-Handed: Elephants Are Just Like Humans
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/theyre-gay-they-grieve-and-theyre-lefthanded-elephants-are-just-like-humans-8973616.html
10 Things You Didn't Know About Wise, Extraordinary Elephants
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/facts-about-elephants_n_3732319.html
Life As An Elephant
http://lifeasahuman.com/2012/feature/life-as-an-elephant/
Of Humans and Elephants
http://ethnobiology.net/of-humans-and-elephants/
How Elephants Think
http://thinkelephants.org/pages/ow_elephants_think.html
How Culling an Elephant Herd Affects the Surviving Orphans
http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/2013/11/14/how-culling-an-elephant-herd-affects-the-surviving-orphans/
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/elephants-communicate-in-sophisticated-sign-language-researchers-say/
Brainy Elephants: One More Way They're as Smart as Humans
http://science.time.com/2013/10/10/brainy-elephants-one-more-way-theyre-as-smart-as-humans/
Elephant Society 'Still Disrupted Decades After Cull'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24754682
Elephant Makes a Stool--First Known Aha Moment for Species
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110819-elephant-eureka-aha-moment-zoo-intelligence-science-plos/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_n1p_us_se_w#finished
For Elephants, Indian Festival Season is Pure Torture
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sangita-iyer/captive-elephants-india_b_4372847.html
The Amazing Intelligence of Elephants
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/elephants-intelligence-pointing-hunted
Elephantine Intelligence
http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic5/elephant.htm
Elephants Outwit Humans During Intelligence Test
http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/elephants-intelligence-test-110307.htm
Elephant Intelligence: Animal Learning On Par With Great Apes and Dolphins, New Study Reveals
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/elephant-intelligence-study_n_832522.html
Elephants Cooperate, Proving How Smart They Really Are
http://www.livescience.com/13108-elephants-cooperate-intelligent-behavior.html
Elephants Understand Human Gesture, No Training Needed
http://www.livescience.com/40319-elephants-understand-pointing-gestures.html
Little Elephant Shows Big Brains
http://www.livescience.com/15647-elephant-problem-solving.html
Elephants Get the Point of Pointing, Study Shows
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/science/elephants-get-the-point-of-pointing-study-shows.html?_r=1&
Goodbye My Friend
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2439543/Elephant-mourns-dead-friend-guards-body-moving-photo-vigil.html
Elephants Really Do Grieve Like Us
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270977/Elephants-really-grieve-like-They-shed-tears-try-bury-dead--leading-wildlife-film-maker-reveals-animals-like-us.html
Elephant 'Self-Portrait' On Show
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/5203120.stm
Fact or Fiction? : Elephants Never Forget
http://www.elefantasia.org/spip.php?breve165
Long-Term Memory May Help Elephants Survive Climate Change
http://www.elefantasia.org/spip.php?breve149
Another Remarkable Example of How Smart Elephants Are
http://io9.com/elephants-innately-understand-what-it-means-to-point-1443289293
Zoologists Capture Elephant's 'Eureka!' Moment
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/elephant-intelligence/
Theory of Mind and Insight in Chimpanzees, Elephants, and Other Animals?
http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/ElephantCorner/Conscrev.htm
Elephant Cognition
http://www.is.wayne.edu/MNISSANI/ElephantCorner/EI.htm
The Remarkable Intelligence of Elephants
http://juliettespeaks.org/the-remarkable-intelligence-of-elephants/
Elephant Intelligence: Revenge Attacks Carried Out in India After Herd Member Was Killed By Train
http://www.hngn.com/articles/9839/20130810/elephant-intelligence-cognition-revenge-attacks-carried-out-india-herd-member.htm
Testing Elephant Intelligence
http://therainforestsite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/trs/article/Testing-Elephant-Intelligence333
Elephant Evolution and Intelligence
http://suite101.com/a/elephant-evolution-and-intelligence-a167231
We Aren't the Only Smart Ones
http://teacherweb.com/BLOG/MA/LittletonMiddleSchool/MsFinnerty/1/blog.aspx?Post=fc8e3bd4-b5dc-4e90-8ea9-9dc09509294b
A Moment of Zen: "Elephant Intelligence"
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/10/a-moment-of-zen-elephant-intelligence-a-mystery-of-our-universe.html
The 10 Smartest Animals
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24628983/
On the Intelligence of Elephants
http://www.cinchreview.com/on-the-intelligence-of-elephants/11265/
Mirrors Reflect Elephants' Intelligence
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/mirrors-reflect-elephants-intelligence/2006/10/31/1162278140389.html
The Intelligence of Beasts
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Intelligence-of-Beasts/127969/
The Intelligence in Creation: Example, the Elephant
http://tompost.org/2012/06/27/wonder-the-intelligence-in-creation-example-the-elephant/
Elephant Intelligence & Society
http://www.everythingology.com/elephant-intelligence-society/
Pity the Elephants
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/355008/pity-elephants-rich-lowry
The Brains of the Animal Kingdom
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323869604578370574285382756
Elephants Give Each Other A Helping Trunk
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/03/08/elephants-give-each-other-a-helping-trunk/
Embrace Your Inner Elephant
http://www.sundryshuffle.com/embrace-your-inner-elephant/
Elephant Personalities Revealed by Scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9638340/Elephant-personalities-revealed-by-scientists.html
Animal Intelligence Badly Underestimated
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/8474758/Animal-intelligence-badly-underestimated
Research Shows Elephants Recognize Cooperation
http://abcnews.go.com/US/elephants-recognize-assistance-researchers/story?id=13074769
Insightful Problem-Solving in an Asian Elephant
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023251
Elephants and Humans Evolved Similar Solutions to Problems of Gas-Guzzling Brains
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2009/11/16/elephants-and-humans-evolved-similar-solutions-to-problems-of-gas-guzzling-brains/
Elephants Recognize Selves in Mirror, Study Says
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061030-asian-elephants.html
Baby Elephant Cries For 5 Hours After Mom Attacks, Rejects Him
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/baby-elephant-cries_n_3920685.html
Von Economo Neurons in the Elephant Brain
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19089889
What is the Depth of Elephant Emotions?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/unforgettable/emotions.html
In Africa, Decoding the "Language" of Elephants
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0221_030221_elephantvocal1.html
They're Gay, They Grieve, and They're Left-Handed: Elephants Are Just Like Humans
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/theyre-gay-they-grieve-and-theyre-lefthanded-elephants-are-just-like-humans-8973616.html
10 Things You Didn't Know About Wise, Extraordinary Elephants
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/facts-about-elephants_n_3732319.html
Life As An Elephant
http://lifeasahuman.com/2012/feature/life-as-an-elephant/
Of Humans and Elephants
http://ethnobiology.net/of-humans-and-elephants/
How Elephants Think
http://thinkelephants.org/pages/ow_elephants_think.html
How Culling an Elephant Herd Affects the Surviving Orphans
http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/2013/11/14/how-culling-an-elephant-herd-affects-the-surviving-orphans/
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