Except from being the biggest overland mammals, elephants are proven to be among the most intelligent ones too. Recent studies and experiments have shown that elephants act in unusually intelligent ways. Some of the solutions offered by groups of elephants engaged in experiments shocked people. Let's take a look at the greatest indicators of surprising elephant intelligence.
The most striking fact is that experiments have proven that elephants have both high IQ and EQ. They are very compassionate animals, have amazingly complex social skills and express emotions, including sorrow, happiness and anger. Furthermore, they behave in ways specific for humans. For example, groups of elephants celebrate after elephant cub is born, they mourn and cry after a member of their group dies. They love to play, which is one of the indicators of intelligence.
A recent study from the UK shown that elephants have extremely sensitive human voice (and other sounds) recognition system. Based on the voice itself, they are able to identify lots of things about the speaker: age, intentions, gender. Accordingly, they adapt their behavior towards the person. Additionally, their memory can be applauded, as they successfully remember the images, voice tones, pitch and intentions of a person. They form their "opinion", conditionally speaking, and model their future behavior towards that certain person on basis of acquired information. They are very good imitators - elephants often try to mimic human voice. Their other recognition abilities are as strong as voice recognition. Experiments with mirrors have shown that elephants can actually differentiate themselves from other elephants.
Parents are always thrilled when their baby starts reacting to their body language. Elephants also understand and communicate with people via gestures. Responsiveness to pointing and other gestures by men is one of the most certain signs of their intelligence. Clearly, this is one of the ways in which elephants learn about their environment. Unlike other animals, they do not have strong inborn survival instincts. They rather learn how to behave, alike men. This is, perhaps, why these animals are able to use certain tools in accomplishing the tasks they want to complete.
It is very difficult to measure intelligence of a man, let alone of an animal. However, there are numerous reasons to believe that elephants are truly among the most intelligent mammals. Brain structure remains of the most accurate indicators of prerequisites for intelligence. In conclusion, let's add that scientists were not surprised when they discovered that elephant brain does resemble human brain in terms of structure, cortex and neocortex.
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