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REAL LIFE NEWS: CO-OPERATING ELEPHANTS

by Hazed

Smart sheep, empathetic chickens, and now a report that elephants can co-operate with each other to achieve a goal.

In a test, two animals had to work together to get food. Each had to pull on a rope in order to tug a platform towards them. This, they did, showing that they understand the need to co-operate and therefore, scientists say, belong in an "elite group" of intelligent, socially complex animals.

The testing apparatus, designed by researchers from the University of Cambridge, was originally intended for chimps. They set the platform up at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang province. Previously, the Asian elephants involved in the study had already been taught that pulling a rope brought the platform with the food reward within reach. But this apparatus required two elephants to pull at the same time, or the platform wouldn't move.

The elephants quickly learned to wait until a second elephant arrived to help.

You can watch a video of the elephants being tested here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9417000/9417612.stm.

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