Charles Darwin once suggested elephants manipulate their breath to reach inaccessible food, and new research has confirmed this behavior for the first stop.
The findings suggest elephants' possess advanced mental ability and are extremely aware of their physical environments, BioMed Central reported. To make these findings, a team of researchers from the SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for advanced studies) and Kyoto University studied the behavior of two female captive elephants, Mineko and Suzuko, at Kamine Zoo in Japan. They hypothesized that the farther away a piece of food was from the elephants, the harder they would blow to bring it closer to them. They digitally mapped out a grid of a ditch in the elephants' enclosure and placed food in different locations on the grid. They filmed the animals' behavior over 32 days split into 128 trials starting when the elephants started blasting air at a food item and ending when they finally grasped it or gave up. The researchers analyzed the duration of blowing, position of the elephants' trunks, and movement of food across the grid.
The findings revealed that it generally took about three blasts of air for the elephants to reach an inaccessible food item, and they were less likely to exhibit this behavior if the food was within reach. The dominant female appeared to be more successful at getting hard-to-reach food.
"By blowing air through their trunks to obtain inaccessible food, the elephants appear to exhibit an advanced understanding of their physical environment. Their skills to manipulate air might be related to those elephants commonly use, such as blowing for self-comfort and acoustic communication," said lead author Kaori Mizuno.
The study brings up the question of whether or not this behavior in elephants can be considered a "tool," similar to the way chimpanzees use sticks to catch ants. The researchers suggest the psychological process behind problem-solving behavior as it relates to "tools" should be scientifically explored.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Animal Cognition.
