Huynh 1

Tricia Huynh
Dr. Lynda Haas
WR 39C
July 17, 2015
A Historical Review on Elephant Intelligence
Introduction
In the 4th century BC, a well-known Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, denied
animals thought, reason, intellect, and belief whilst he granted them a great sense of perception
(Irvine 38). It was not until Donald Griffin published his book, Animal Thinking (1984), and the
progression of cognitive ethology that animal cognition has become respectable (Jolly 231).
An animal that, through much research, has proven to be an intelligent creature with high
levels of cognitive abilities is the elephant. There are many accounts in which elephants have
shown their intelligence through their behaviors in many social settings and situations. In this
essay, I shall review here some examples of elephant behavior which may indicate high
intelligence and consciousness of African and Asian elephants. Here I will discuss different
scientific studies and accounts of elephant cognition. To begin, I will talk about Atiya Y.
Hakeems study on the brain of the African elephant, based on his book, Brain of the African
elephant (Loxodonta Africana): Neuroanatomy from magnetic resonance images. This review of
the elephant brain is to provide a background into the intellect of the elephant so that there is a
better understanding of what this creature is capable of. I will also refer to the online journal
Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews by three researchers to show that the various
behaviors that elephants have that demonstrate specific cognitive abilities. I will follow up my

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discussion on elephant cognition with elephant communication. This final selection deals with
how elephants interact with each other using different cues to exude different intentions.
The purpose of this review is to provide evidence that elephants are intelligent beings by
listing examples of elephant cognitive abilities, behavior, and communication in hopes of
garnering awareness that elephants are sentient animals. In my conclusion section, I will discuss
the ethics of elephant poaching. If elephants are conscious animals, what is the real value of
ivory?
Cognition
Cognition is the mental process of gaining knowledge and understanding thought,
feelings, senses, and experiences. First of all, cognition requires the activity of the brain, which
has all the neurons and synapses that make cognition possible. The main author of a highly
credible source, Brain of the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana): Neuroanatomy from
magnetic resonance images, Atiya Y. Hakeem a researcher based in the California Institute of
Technology mainly studies in the area of Medicine, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular
Biology. In his, he discusses his findings on studying the adult brain of the African elephant
using magnetic resonance imaging.
In his study, Hakeem took the brain of adult female wild-caught African elephant that
was euthanized because it had foot problems. He took images using and MRI scanner from the
Moore Brain Imaging center at Caltech. He compared the brain of the elephant with the brain of
a cetacean and that of a humans. His results were that the elephants brain is very much similar
to a human brain. According to Hakeem, Bothe the elephant and the human have a far lower
ratio of neocortex to corpus callosum than do species of Delphinidae [dolphins].and implies
that

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in this respect the elephant brain is more similar in organization to the brains of large primates
(13). As you can see in the image on the left, the callosum, which is highlighted in red, of the
elephant (top left) looks a lot like that of the human (right).
Another finding is that the hippocampus of the elephant is
large and convoluted compared to that of either the human
or the various cetaceans that have been studied (24). The
image to the left on the bottom, the elephants hippocampus,
which is highlighted in red, is more convoluted than the
other animals. This suggests that elephants have extremely
long social and chemical memory of. For example, in the
discussion section of Hakeems research, Examples of the
long-term chemical and social memory of elephants abound in
the popular and scientific literature alike; the matriarch,
entrusted with the survival of her multigenerational family
group remembers geographical information such as the location of seasonal water sources and
social information such as the calls of familiar elephant groups (24). Of course, brain structure
has the effect on cognitive abilities, which could explain elephants long-term memory, but how
does behavior play a role in cognition. They both go hand-in-hand actually.
In Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews by Richard Byrne, Lucy Bates, and
Cynthia Moss, the elephants cognition is reviewed through their behavior in specific settings.
In the journal, the researchers discuss the elephants knowledge of the physical environment and
their behaviors in the social environment. Elephants show the capability of creative thinking and
problem solving skills by being able to use tools. In the article, Byrne states that, Both Asian

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and African savannah elephants have been seen to use multiple tool types for up to six different
functions, mostly in the context of body care such as scratching and removing ticks, with one
report of throwing mud during a competitive encounter with a rhino over access to a water hole
(69). This shows that elephants are resourceful and are able to create tools that serve some
purposes in their daily lives. Also, described in their research, elephants know about each other
and their interactions. Bates discuss that using their urine- moving experiment, elephants have
knowledge of individual identities and are able recognize and keep track of at least 17 different
female family members (71). Bates research shows that elephants use their olfactory senses to
locate members of herd. Because of this, elephants have the ability to individually identify others
and communicate with them, a topic I will discuss in the next section.
Communication
In the second section of my review, I will discuss the way communication plays a big part
in elephant intelligence. There are many ways in which elephants can interact with each other,
and which method they use depends on the distance between the communicators. The different
types of communication that elephants are known to use are vocal communication, seismic
communication, and olfaction and chemical communication. According to Byrne, elephants can
detect low frequency rumbles at distances of several kilometers. so it may be that elephants
can follow the sounds of distant thunder to reach fresh water sources (68). The ability for
elephants to detect frequency rumbles is an example of seismic communication, a form of
interaction that involves vibration signal energy through the percussion on the earth or acoustical
waves that couple with the earth (OConnell- Rodwell 30). Caitlin O Connell, an instructor at
Stanford University Medical School, is a world renowned expert on elephants and elephant
behavior, and she states that, Elephants detect and respond to low-frequency acoustic cues. in

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response to seismic playbacks of low-frequency alarm calls, family groups aggregate into
significantly denser groups as compared with their spacing before the presentation of the seismic
stimulus, which is considered a defensive behavior (43). They receive these seismic signals
through their feet, but the way they respond to these signals are dependent on their cognition
because they could distinguish subtle differences among seismic component of calls, cuing
different intentions. Olfaction and chemical communication are also main methods of elephant
interaction since elephants are very tactile animals; frequently using various body parts to touch
one another to gain information. Communication is a key part in survival since elephants are
very social creatures; however, their communication level does not stop there as recent studies
have found that elephants are capable of voice learning.
In an article called An Asian Elephant Imitates Humans Speech, written by researchers
from South Korea. According to the article, the male Asian elephant named Koshik from the
Everland Zoo in South Korea could say six Korean words comprised by his trainers (17). Shown
in the picture on the right is an image of an elephant sticking its trunk into its mouth as if it were
whistling. The five diagrams displayed are the vowels, duration, and frequency of his speech. It
is mentioned in the article that Koshiks success at vowel imitation suggests that elephants are
able to overcome morphological limitations by augmenting the oral vocal tract with their trunk:
an evolutionarily novel and highly specialized appendage (24). Researchers suggest that,
because voice imitation does not occur very often among elephants, Koshik must have socially
deprived during a critical period of time of bonding and socializing when he only had human
contact, which may have influenced his ability to imitate speech. However, voice imitation could
serve a purpose in the social complexity of these animals. A theory that formulated from this
study states that voice imitation is one function of vocal learning used in order to create social

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bonds with other elephants, or maybe with other
species.
In conclusion, elephants are intelligent and
sentient beings because of the scientific studies of their
brain, cognition, behavior, and communication. These
studies prove that these animals have mental abilities
that show that they are able to solve problems and feel
emotion to show that they are conscious. It is discussed
that the brain of the elephant is not so different to that of
a humans. Despite it being larger, the elephants corpus
callosum, the integral part of cognition, is similar to the primates, and the hippocampus is bigger
and convoluted, suggesting that its memory far exceed humans. Studies have also shown that
elephants are able to use tools to solve problems, remember things and experiences for a long
period of time, and communicate extremely well. Some could even imitate human speech. Now
that we know elephants are intelligent and conscious, on these scientific studies, how should that
impact our actions on elephant poaching for ivory? The ivory trade is a test to the ethical
treatment of elephants as these animals, proven to be intelligent, are killed for something so
materialistic. This issue is important to take action because innocent lives are taken and a whole
species is on the brink of extinction because of it. If Aristotle were to have access to all these
evidences that elephants to be highly intelligent, conscious creatures, he would not only grant
them a rich sense of perception, but also grant them reason, thought, intellect, and belief.

Works Cited

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Byrne, R. W., Bates, L., & Moss, C. J. (2009). Elephant cognition in primate
perspective. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews.
Hakeem, A. Y., Hof, P. R., Sherwood, C. C., Switzer, R. C., Rasmussen, L. E. L., & Allman, J.
M. (2005). Brain of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana): neuroanatomy from
magnetic resonance images. The Anatomical Record Part A: Discoveries in Molecular,
Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology, 287(1), 1117-1127.
Irvine, L.(2004). If You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connection With Animals. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press. Retrieved July 19, 2015, from Project MUSE database.
Jolly, Allison, Conscious Chimpanzees? A Review of Recent Literature. Cognitive Ethology:
The Minds of Other Animals. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991. 231252. Print.
OConnell-Rodwell, C. E. (2007). Keeping an ear to the ground: seismic communication in
elephants. Physiology, 22(4), 287-294.
Stoeger, A. S., Mietchen, D., Oh, S., de Silva, S., Herbst, C. T., Kwon, S., & Fitch, W. T. (2012).
An Asian elephant imitates human speech. Current Biology,22(22), 2144-2148.