In the well-known Disney movie, Tarzan, one of Tarzan’s best friends is an elephant, Tantor. However, Tantor is portrayed a dumb, and stupid, and not exactly on the intelligent side. But are elephants really that dumb, or are they actually as smart as us humans. Sure, they cannot read or communicate to us, let’s be serious, how smart are they really? Not all elephants are like Tantor. In the video, Elephants Show Cooperation, the article, Elephants Can Lend A Helping Trunk, and the passage from, Elephants Know When They Need a Helping TRunk In A Cooperative Task, the authors illustrate the intelligence of these animals. They all show an experiment that proves this claim. Elephants “join the elite club of social cooperatives: chimpanzees, hyenas, …show more content…
rooks, and humans.” Their cognitive ability even surprises the researchers. They not only make wise decisions, but they cooperate with others. All three sources depict the sagacity of these remarkable creatures. In the video, Elephants Show Cooperation, researchers set up an experiment, to test the amount of cooperation that elephants have.
The narrator explains before the experiment, “Elephants recently aced an IQ test with the two of them even figuring out shortcuts the researchers hadn’t even thought of.” They are a lot smarter than we think they are. The pachyderms over thought the researchers, actually completing the experiment with the shortcut. As well in the beginning of the video, the narrator explains that, “Scientists now believe [elephants are] among the world’s most cognitively advanced animals.” With all of the information that they gathered through this trial, the statement can very much be true. I personally believe that they are among those cognitive creatures. Another part of the video claims, “Scientists say the test highlights not only the intelligence of individual elephants but also their ability to cooperate and understand the value of teamwork.” The test provided us with so much more information than we had, that science has an entirely new outlook on the mammal. I mean, they always did know that elephants were very smart, but no one expected this amount of cooperation to come from …show more content…
them. In the article, Elephants Can Lend A Helping Trunk, Virginia Morell uses the experiment to prove the same exact point, that they are very cooperative.
They were trained to pull the ropes, and then were split up into pairs, where they pulled the rope simultaneously to grab the corn sitting on a table. According to the article, “To find out if the elephants understood that they needed one another's assistance, the researchers upped the challenge by releasing the elephants at different times. Thus, one elephant would arrive at the table before the other and would have to wait for a partner to show up before pulling the rope.” In one trial, the elephant actually did wait for her partner, and this happened most of the time, except for one case, where one was too eager for corn. They understood. In an interview with behavioral psychologist Karen McComb, "It's particularly striking that the elephants were able to inhibit pulling". The result was unexpected is what she meant, but this also shows what more we can learn and what little we know about these spectacular animals. McComb also states “The study "adds to the growing body of evidence that elephants show some impressive cognitive abilities." Again, we need to know more about these animals, they may help us in the future, and we can gain more and more knowledge from
them. In the passage, Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk In A Cooperative Task, Joshua M. Plotnik uses information from the same experiment to prove the point. In the passage he wrote, “...thus, each elephant was released into a single lane and had access only to a single rope end.” The elephants could not grab both ends of the rope, therefore they could only complete the task with someone else. The two pachyderms were separated into lanes, for safety precautions, however the lane was not needed, since it did not compromise the situation. “The lanes did not seem to compromise the elephant’s ability to learn the experimental task contingencies.” They were not affected by being separated. They were probably able to communicate some way, which is more astonishing. And even more amazing, they were ot given any hand signals by the mahouts. “Commands were never given during trials, and mahouts were cued to released their elephants with a hand signal that was not visible to the subjects.” They could figure out exactly what to do, with very little training instructed towards them. Elephants, Elephas maximus, are not only beautiful creatures, but they’re extremely smart and cooperative as well. They can figure out different experiments, and work together to complete them. The information given by, Elephants Show Cooperation, Elephants can Lend a Helping Trunk, and Elephants Know When they Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task, elephants have been proven to be one of the smartest and most cooperative animal on the planet. Don’t you agree?
According to the beginning of the video, it states, “Scientists now believe [elephants are] among the world’s most cognitively advanced animals.” The outcome of this experiment was so positive that now elephants are one of the world's most advanced animals. However, this took the scientists by surprise. Subsequently, it also states in the video, “Elephants recently aced an IQ test with two of them even figuring out shortcuts the researches hadn't thought of.” This in particular, was most outstanding due to to the fact that the researchers didn’t even think of the shortcut that the elephants made. This really proves that elephants are wise mammals; possibly, even wiser than us humans. To conclude, it states in the video, “Scientists say the test highlights not only the intelligence of individual elephants but also their ability to cooperate and understand the value of teamwork.” This here exhibits that the elephants understand that certain tasks need to be done with the assistance of others, not just by themselves. Thus, as the video illustrates the elephants are more brainy than we
Have you ever wondered how animals interact and work together to get a job done? Many times, animals put their minds together to complete a task. But what many people do not realize is that animals interact with one another just as humans would. In many instances, people don’t realize the amount of intelligence and common sense that animals, such as the elephant, possess. The study of elephant’s thoughts and thinking were explained and backed up through three different mediums. This information was explained through articles, videos, and passages. Combined, these pieces of work clarified what the experiment was, what it was testing, the purpose behind it, and how the different pieces were
Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk is a passage about a study preformed to test elephants' abilities to collaborate. It explains the basic process of the experiment, and provided in-depth analysis of the results. It made many comparisons between the study and other studies and research and noted the opinions of numerous professionals, which helped show the significance of the test's findings. The purpose of this passage was to primarily to be an entertaining article, and secondarily to inform the reader about the experiment. It was very similar to Elephants Console Each Other in tone and style, but differed more from Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk, mainly because it was less informational, and more enjoyable.
...ve with her powers. In general no matter the conflict that arises the elephants always stick together and never become mad at one another. This collectiveness/family unity is a great message to any reader searching for life answers.
Morell’s purpose of writing is to inform the reader of the elephants behavior during the testing, their intelligence, and their compassion. In “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk” It says, “...the pachyderms understand that they will fail at a task without a partner’s assistance. The ability to understand when you need help Is present in both humans and elephants. Just like when a human asks for help elephants know when they need help in doing a task. Morell also says in her other article, “Elephants Console Each Other” that elephants who are angry erect their tail and make their ears flare.
In Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants, the theme of love being a driving force in the characters’ decision making is displayed through the use of characterization and conflict throughout the novel. Jacob’s love for Marlena causes him to make unexpected and often foolish decisions. When Jacob suddenly kissed Marlena, her reaction caused him to realize “‘[he] shouldn’t have done that,’” (Gruen, 2006, p. 153). Jacob was unable to conceal his love for Marlena, which, in turn, caused him to suddenly kiss her. Jacob’s character is extremely love driven, which is demonstrated by his romantic outbursts. Without thinking of the results, Jacob decided to keep Rosie because of his love for her. When Jacob told Marlena they were keeping Rosie, his reasoning was “‘I love that bull.
In this example, two primates were placed behind either a transparent or an opaque screen. Between these screens was a banana and I learned how a primate reacted when approached with the option if he should go for the banana when put against a dominant primate. I was impressed that they didn’t engage in a brawl over the banana, but instead used thought in regard to hierarchy. This to me, without doubt, proves once more that primates are able to produce complex behaviors that relate to humans. Thinking like this insinuates that primates as well as creatures other than humans have the ability of using
In June of 1904, as reported in the New York Times: Come on out here, Hattie, and give us a tune, It was “Billy” Snyder, keeper of the elephants in the Zoological Gardens, Central Park, New York, who spoke nonchalantly and in his most ordinary tone of voice, while twenty children craned their necks wondrously across the railing. It was “Hattie” the champion trick elephant of the world and the great pet of the children of New York City. Youngsters surprisingly viewed these otherwise threatening, menacing creatures as friends. It would seem that children developed such a close relationship with the animals that each beast was given their own individual personality and characteristics.
Each person is convinced that they are right and the others are wrong because of what they know and have experienced. What they don’t realize is that they are all technically right because they are each describing a different aspect of the elephant. The same analogy can be applied to the major religions of the world.
George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is a short story that not only shows cultural divides and how they affect our actions, but also how that cultural prejudice may also affect other parties, even if, in this story, that other party may only be an elephant. Orwell shows the play for power between the Burmese and the narrator, a white British police-officer. It shows the severe prejudice between the British who had claimed Burma, and the Burmese who held a deep resentment of the British occupation. Three messages, or three themes, from Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” are prejudice, cultural divide, and power.
There are some wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than wounds that bleed. Just as all humans, elephants similarly feel emotions whether it is joy or sorrow. In his article “An Elephant Crack Up?” the author, Charles Siebert focuses on the recent strange and bellicose behaviors of elephants and clears up the causes of the behaviors with plenty of informative observations. In “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert theorizes that the psychological immune system is triggered by large-scale negative events. We also see these negative effects in the passage, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan,” while Ethan Watters exposes the attempts of Glaxo Smith Kline to convince the Japanese doctors that the Japanese people
Gus Van Sant et al., Elephant (New York: HBO Video, 2003); Roger Ebert, “Elephant,” Chicago-Sun Times, 2003.
The common name is the African Elephant, the scientific name is Loxodonta Africana, the phylum is Vertebrata, the class is Mammalia, the order is Proboscidea, and the family is Elephantidae. The Closest Relatives to the African Elephant are: the Asian Elephant, mammoths, primitive proboscidean (mastodons), sea cows, and hyraxes. Scientists believe that the African Elephant evolved from one of its closest relatives, the Sea Cow. The geographical location and range of the African elephant covers all of central and southern Africa. In Ethiopia there are isolated populations that exist around Lake Chad in Mali and Mauritania. Also in Kenya, Rhodesia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Zaire, and in National parks located in South Africa, as well as several other countries. African Elephants, originally, were found in all of the Sub-Saharan African habitats except desert steppes. Elephants still occupy diverse habitats such as: temperate grassland, tropical savanna and grass lands, temperate forest and rainforest, tropical rainforest, tropical scrub forest, and tropical deciduous forest despite their drastic decline in numbers. However, their migratory patterns and habitat use have changed, due to the fact that they are restricted to protected areas. The elephant can exist in many types of environments but it prefers places that have many trees and bushes, which the elephant needs both for food and shade. They also like warm areas that have plenty of rainfall.
Each man had a different idea of what an elephant is like based off of what they had heard and gathered from discussions between other villagers and travelers. Having heard varying discussions, all of the men had their own perception of the characteristics of an elephant. When the six men were finally taken to experience a real elephant, these preconceived notions of their own imaginations affected their encounter with the elephant. The men could only feel what they believed to be true regarding the animal. Their individual expectations obstructed their abilities to discover the truth. For example, the third blind man believed the elephant to be dangerous and capable of fatally injuring a man with its “terrible horn.” When the third blind man touched the elephant, he felt its tusks and said “‘I was right,’ he decided. ‘This creature is as sharp and deadly as a spear,”’(qtd. in Blubaugh). Because the third blind man imagined the elephant to be dangerous, when he actually encountered the animal his previous perceptions caused him to be biased
The experiments and other data show that animals are not just driven by instincts alone. There is more to them than that. It is hard to watch dogs play and believe that they derive no fun or pleasure from it at all. Animals have shown that they are sensitive to their social surroundings. They punish one another and alleviate other’s pain. Some monkeys in established communities attack those that find food and don’t share. These studies are important. A better understanding of how animals are feeling could create a whole new guideline of rules on the way animals should be treated. Humans should not be so arrogant to believe they are the only animals capable of emotion. How are we capable of seeing from their viewpoint and assume they feel no emotion.