Elephants Helping Trunk

As portrayed in “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, an experiment was to be tested on the animals to study their behavior in certain situations. This article went on to illustrate the procedure and plan on what they were going to do. “To test the elephants’ cooperation skills, a team of scientists modified a classic experiment first administered to chimpanzees in the 1930s, which requires two animals work together to earn a treat” (Morell 30). This indicates the concept and procedure to the experiment. It continues to explain. “The findings

B. Supporting Sentence 2: Elephants are actually very social and tend to travel more in herds and groups rather than on their own, and are even very friendly and social with humans, when they have been around them for long enough.

When you think of an intelligent and social animal, what do you think of? A chimp, a dolphin, or a dog? Actually, an elephant can be included as well. Elephants have been proven to show cognitive abilities through a new experiment and study where they tested elephants to see if they would work together to gain food. Three pieces of information that talk about this incredible new study are the article “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Hand” by Virginia Morell, the video ”Elephants Shows Cooperation” presented by Discovery News. Although these selections talk about the same topic, they are different in many ways. The video is different from the two texts because of the differences in the information

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

Have you ever wondered how intelligent elephants are? I bet you guessed not very intelligent however, you would be wrong. Elephants are actually very intelligent. This is explained in the video Elephants Show Cooperation, the article “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, and a passage from the study “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”. These sources all explain an experiment involving Asian Elephants and teamwork activities. Although the video, article, and passage from the study all explain the same topic and experiment, the delivery of information is all very different which influence the reader’s understanding of the

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 movie Water for Elephants and the book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen are both intriguing stories that capture one’s heart when reading the book or watching the movie. Though both versions of the story seemed fascinating, I happened to find the book better than the movie for many reasons. Due to the book being told from one of the main characters, Jacob’s, point of view, gave a certain view and understanding of the use of imagery, characterization, and detail, in which the movie was not able to illustrate as well.

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’.

” Just a decade ago, animal rights activists advocated the “liberation” of apes in zoos, some unaware that a revolution in great ape exhibitry was under way worldwide. Today, 40 AZA zoos are currently planning or implementing significant improvements in their elephant exhibits (J. Maddy, personal communication, June 11, 2006). Many primate experts endorse exhibits designed to provide appropriate social stimulation and challenge the animal’s intellect. What is good for apes may be equally good for elephants”, (Maple 65).

Humans must set an example for elephants by displaying positive behavior to eliminate the violence that can put both species at risk. In his article, Siebert describes the many violent attacks that elephants have done toward humans due to the captivity that humans have kept elephants under. The captivity toward elephants has emerged due to a lack of human empathy, which then causes elephants to rage more and engage in violent attacks. Gay Bradshaw, a psychologist at the environmental-sciences program goes further to distinguish relationships between humans and animals:

The university did many tests where they put animals through stressing events. They would put seemingly dangerous or threatening elephants in position the to elephant. For instance, it states, “When responding to a distressed elephant, other elephants would often use their trunks to gently touch the upset elephant's face or put their trunks in its mouth, which is almost like a handshake or hug in humans, Plotnik said.(source A)” This is a very vulnerable position for the elephants and the elephants are basically saying it's ok. Hence elephant does this to show that it is not here to harm but to console. Another way the elephants consoles or calms down the other elephant is through vocalization. For example in the article it states, “‘The vocalization I heard most often following a distress event was a high, chirping sound,’ Plotnik said. ‘I've never heard that vocalization when elephants are alone. It may be a signal like, 'Shhh, it's OK' -- the sort of sound a human adult might make to reassure a baby.’(source A)” The elephants also use physical contact to assure the elephants. Using different tools the elephant calms the other

Elephant has long been known as one of man’s best friends, who have peacefully coexisted along with humanity for thousands of years. However, the relationship between the two is no longer in the equilibrium state. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert discusses the downfall of the elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants among themselves and toward other species, including humans, and presents an educated and almost unexpected explanation to their behaviors. He says elephants are just like us; they have feelings and now are “suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma”(Siebert 354). The similarity that should be something fascinating is now slowly turning them into the immensely savage beasts before wiping them out of existence. Even when the appearance of the words “stress” and “trauma” looks like a serious case of “anthropocentric conjecture”, it provides a totally new vision, a fresh way of looking at the boiling issue of the disappearance and sadistic acts of elephants specifically and wild animals at large. With the help of two powerful essays: “Great to Watch” by Maggie Nelson and “The Power of Context” of Malcolm Gladwell, the issue of the unusual behaviors of the elephants is thoroughly illuminated and its solution no longer seems to be out of human’s reach.

In either species, if it is possible for the male to make body contact with the female he tries to lay his head or trunk in the elephant, on her back. After lots of

First and foremost, elephants are animals that are usually very intelligent. In the article, “ Elephants can lend a helping trunk”, it explains how scientists test elephants cooperation skills. They scientists set up a simple task for the elephants to do. For instance, they had a table attached to two strings holding corn at the end. In paragraph 2 of “Elephants can lend a helping trunk, “ it quotes,” If one animal pulled the rope before

In summary, there are many differences found in the pieces that revolve the same idea that elephants can be smarter than they appear. These differences can be found in the way the author presents the information, and in the author's tone. Some of the articles are more serious and fact based, while others are somewhat biased and more opinionated. To conclude, the articles are similar in the sense that they are talking about the tests the elephants took, but the differences are what give different points of view of the information and better understanding of what is going on.