Researchers at the Bannerghatta Biological Park saw novel use of tools among some of its 23 elephants.
An itch is a pesky problem. While humans and primates use their fingers, canines and cats use limbs, and rhinos and buffaloes have their symbiotic "tick birds", what do elephants have? Turns out, it's their brain.
Researchers at the Bengaluru Bannerghatta Biological Park recently observed novel use of tools among some of its 23 resident Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus) for hitherto unseen "problem solving".
The elephants, all of whom were either born in captivity or rescued from temples, were seen wrapping a stick in their trunk and using it to scratch difficult to reach parts of the ear, mouth and belly. These areas could not have been accessed with their trunks alone or by rubbing their bodies against trees, park officials said.
Officials said this shows elephants have highly developed problem-solving abilities besides great cognition, memory and complex social behaviour.
Recently, Sundar, a 20-year-old elephant who was rescued from a temple in Maharashtra's Kolhapur, was seen using a piece of long stick to scratch specific areas in his ear and the mouth. The park officials also reported that his fellow elephant, Menaka, was also seen showing new skill with tools. She has been observed reaching tricky areas under her neck and belly area with a twig.
"Tool use in elephants is not unique, but the level of complexity varies with each elephant. A study by Hart, et al. in 2001 shows how elephants use and modify branches to repel flies in Nagarhole National Park indicating that the cerebral cortex in the brain and body ratio is greater than that of any primate species," park's Executive Director Vanashree Vipin Singh said.
Stating that elephants were more intelligent than the great apes, such as the chimpanzees and orangutans, park officials added that the recently observed use of twigs was different.
According to the journal, Scientific American, elephants don't use their trunks to use tools very often because it affects their sense of smell, which is stronger than their eyesight.