Most people consider humans the pinnacle of creation, capable of reasoning and tool use in ways that animals cannot. However, as research has progressed, this distinction has narrowed, and it is now known that, for instance, chimpanzees can use sticks as tools and New Caledonian crows can even craft them.
This is why it was particularly fascinating to read a recent study by German researcher Lea Urban and her colleagues on elephant behavior. These giant animals are already known to use and modify tools.
Urban and her team investigated how Asian zoo elephants use water hoses as tools. The flexibility, length, and water flow of hoses make them exceptionally complex tools, so it was not surprising that the researchers observed significant individual differences in how they were handled.
One female elephant, Mary, was particularly skilled at using the water hose. She systematically used it to shower her body and smoothly coordinated her trunk-holding movements with her other limbs.
Mary typically grasped the hose just behind the tip, allowing it to function as a rigid showerhead. However, when she wanted to reach her back, she grabbed the hose farther from the tip and swung it over her back, utilizing the hose's flexibility and ballistics.
Even more intriguing was that a younger female elephant, Anchali, began interfering with the hose while Mary was enjoying her shower. Anchali started pulling the hose toward herself, lifting and bending it, and then regrasping and compressing the bent section.
This bending-and-clamping behavior disrupted the water flow, and Anchali repeated it frequently. Over time, her ability to disrupt the water flow became more effective. Additionally, Anchali pressed the hose down with her trunk, further hindering the flow of water.
The researchers could not determine whether Anchali’s actions were specifically aimed at disrupting Mary’s shower or whether her behavior was independent of it. Nevertheless, the study demonstrated that elephants are capable of handling water hoses skillfully and even using them as tools.
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Games and Midsummer games
The amazing adventures of the German cockroach
Leaders infected by a parasite
However, elephants are not capable of building waterhoses
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