Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Creature Feature: Elephants Learn Teamwork

This video clip from BBC Earth show Asia elephants learning, quickly, to use teamwork to obtain a food treat.  The experimental design is similar to one used to test the intelligence of chimpanzees, who also learn quickly how to depend on a teammate to reach food beyond the reach of a single individual.

Such empirical confirmation of the intelligence of elephants hopefully will help conservationists preserve the lives of a the remaining Asian elephants. They are under renewed attack from poachers who are now murdering them for their hides, not their tusks. More than 100 elephants have died since 2013 at the hands of poachers. In this year alone 20 elephants have been killed with poisoned darts in Myanmar. All were skinned or close to being skinned when there carcasses were discovered. Reportedly the hides are used for jewelry and potions. The slaughter extends to mothers and their calves. Pictures of the barbaric abuse are too horrific to be displayed.  US Person thinks humans are capable of emulating the elephant and use teamwork to put a sudden halt to this perverted horror.

elephant skin for sale at the Golden Rock market