African Elephant Research

The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants are some of the most deadly animals, which increases the danger of human and elephant interactions. Increased human and elephant interactions lead to increased deaths of both humans and elephants. Surprisingly, these animals are socially apt. The trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking; it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds. Females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and

The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants also are some of the most deadly animals, which therefore increase the danger of human and elephant interactions. The more human interactions occur, the more deaths result, whether it is the elephant or the human who dies. These animals, surprisingly, are socially apt; their trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking- it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds-females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection, 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy, 178c). Despite how many people use the beloved saying, elephants may not be around much longer due to the shortened life span and increased mortality rates. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices reduces the life span of the African elephant from 56 to 16 years and the Asian elephant from 42 to 19 years (Elephant Protection, 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called

The authors in “ Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk In a Cooperative Task”, and “Elephants Console Each Other” all propose different purposes on one main general idea; elephants are more complex in ‘human behaviour’ than previously believed . Along with purpose, the authors aim at different viewpoints that all relatively agree with the same general acquisition, again, ‘ human behavior’.

When elephants are babies, they are small and easy to restrain. So, trainers will tie them to a post or tree, and at first, they will struggle, some fight against their restraints for days—yearning for freedom—until, gradually, the elephants give up and become complacent. Full grown elephants weigh tons and could easily break away from most constraints, but, despite their massive stature, trained elephants do not fight their trainers or yank against chains, because they have learned that attempts at escape are futile and they are powerless. Physical freedom is well within their grasp, but mental freedom is not; a Thousand Splendid Suns, the Catcher in the Rye, and Song Yet Sung all demonstrate the common theme that

“The Brains of the Animal Kingdom” by Frans De Waal is the first essay I have chosen. In this paper, De Waal, a professor of primate behavior at Emory University, writes about how some primates are smarter at performing a select task compared to a human. De Waal continues his research by incorporating evidence of animal intelligence with an anecdote about Kandula, a young elephant who would move a box to retrieve high hanging fruit. He also adds in Kyoto, the chimpanzee that could “recall a random series of nine numbers, from one to nine, and then tap them in the right order, even though the numbers had been displayed for just a fraction of a second (De Waal 302).” The results were compared to a human, who had more time and had to keep track of less numbers, and still Kyoto surpassed the human. De Waal utilizes his past experience and adds compelling evidence that creates a sense of validity in his writing, therefore making his point that humans underestimate the extent of animal ability.

Asian Elephants have been proven to be one of the smartest animals on the planet. There are various things that have been video recorded and scientifically tested to prove that animals can do human like things. Some of the things that elephants are capable of doing are identifying

Expanding on previous research in Texas, O’Connell-Rodwell performs an additional experiment to prove that elephants are communicating on a seismic level. Seismic communication has already been proven in small animals, but not large. In the experiment O’Connell-Rodwell reported emulating seismic frequencies that were similar to elephant alarm signals. The results were successful resulting in the swift response of nearby herds changing their direction to come towards the sound. This is a very interesting adaptation of elephants, and most beneficial to them, because when atmospheric conditions are unfavorable to communicate vocally they can communicate seismically. One problem could tamper with their seismic communication and that potential distraction

B. M. De Waal, Frans, Joshua M. Plotnik, Frans B. M. De Waal, and Diana Reiss. “Self-recognition in an Asian Elephant.” PNAS, 13 Sept. 2006. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Such behaviors suggest that an elephant can understand complex communication efforts such as nonverbal methods like pointing, etc. And if that's not enough to indicate that they are highly intelligent, elephants are also thought to be able to identify languages, use tools for problem solving, understand human body language, mimic human voices and are likely to have memories that are better than most humans.

Cognition experiments on elephants did not begin until the late 1950’s, starting with Rensch’s study on memory. Since than scientist’s have tested/ studied problem solving, rituals, emotions, deception, casual reasoning, tool making, and tool use within elephants with many having positive results (Plotnik et al., 2010). One aspect of cognition that has been tested in many primates in the recent years is the mirror self-recognition test; this is considered the basic level of cognition. Plotnik and colleagues completed this test with three female elephants at the Bronx Zoo (2010). This test involves three stages, where each shows a level of recognition. Though none of the elephants passed the mark part of the test, they showed many other characteristics that indicated self-recognition (that was in other species like chimpanzees and bottle nose dolphins). However, the discrepancy could be due to the way elephants identify one another: through touch, sounds, and smell, which a mirror cannot replicate (Plotnik et

The herds are matriarchal meaning a female leads the herd but is also matrilineal which describes how the herd consists of the head female’s family line (4). The female who is in charge is the oldest because it is she who has the most experience out of the group (7). As Loxodonta africana, retain the life expectancy of 70 years, the matriarch holds information that is vital to the survival of the herd (4 & 7). In accordance with African elephant families being matrilineal, when a male calf reaches maturity it will leave the herd to find a herd of strictly bulls to join until the bull reaches sexual maturity (4). The females must be able to determine who is family and who is not. This is accomplished by vocal recognition of other elephant groups in the area (3). Scientists were able to resolve that these matriarchs would have to be familiar with at least a minimum of fourteen greeting calls of other elephant herds (3). The intellect used by these creatures to be able to recognize and identify surrounding groups of elephants is quite impressive. Even more incredible was the discovery that elephants can distinguish gender, age and ethnicity of humans through their voices (9). The need for this skill was developed so that the elephants could evaluate threats to the herd (9). Researchers had recorded the speech of different members of the Maasai tribe

"Animal cognition or comparative cognition's major purpose is to compare the cognitive processes of different species, including humans. By making such comparisons, researchers hope to find commonalities in the ways different species receive, process, store, and use information about their world" (Mazur, 2013, p.225).

From the above discussion, it can be seen that not only that the elder matriarchal leaders are vital to maintaining the equilibrium state inside the herd, they too play an enormous role in determining the way in which the group will react to the outside influences, and that function also contributes to the degree in which the group is dependent on these old ladies . One of the most direct way that this influence can be recognized is in the ability to survive from dangerous predators. In “ Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age” and “Matriarchs As Repositories of Social Knowledge in African Elephants”, conducted by Karen McComb and two different teams, an experiment is carried out, in which the different elephant families are

Apes are the model organisms in the field of animal communication and neuro-scientific studies. Apes DNA is about 98.6% similar to humans possessing cognitive, emotional and psychological characteristic which closely resemble humans. Not long ago scientists started studying primates because of these characteristics and most of the work is in the field of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. Phylogenetically, primates and human fall under the same branch called Hominidae and non-human (primates) are human’s closest living relatives. Primate’s method of communication is mainly through gestures and their own language. Similarities and differences between human and primate vocalizations can be studied for comparative research and holds a great prospective to elucidate the evolutionary processes that formed human language and speech. Humans and primate, both communicate through a language which is unique to them and vocal behavior and gestures are an important trait that both the species possess. Primates also utilize this ability of vocal communication and gestures in their social environment, be it to alert their own species or to attack another species. Hence this property of communication have become an integrated part of their cognitive and neuro-ecology. Therefore, I hypothesize, that primates utilize vocal communication, call combinations, vocal learning and gestures to communicate and signal others

The body of an African Elephant, though unconventional in comparison to other animals, is perfect for their way of life. Their large ears give them the ability to hear sounds up to 6.2 miles away, in ideal conditions, while also serving as a communication device. Their unusual oval-shaped feet act as a shock absorber due to the thick fatty tissue it is made up of. This allows the elephants to walk silently because sounds are muffled under their feet. Lastly, the trunk on an elephant is made up of eight major muscles on either side which gives the elephant the ability to lift up to 700,000 pounds. They can also be used as a built-in snorkel, allowing the mammal travel across larger bodies of water. Not only do the trunks of elephants help themselves, can be used to help other elephants.