A pair of elephants at Berlin Zoo have figured out how to use a sock as a flexible changing shower head. Not only do they use the water to clean themselves, but they have been observed turning off the water, potentially as some sort of prank. The behaviors are yet further examples of tool use in nonhuman animals and are detailed in a study published Nov. 8 in the journal Cell Press Current Biology.
Tool use known throughout the animal kingdom. Chimpanzees use sticks as tools to reach various grains and honey. Crows also use sticks to search for hidden food sources. Humpback whales catch fish in “bubble nets,” which some scientists consider a form of gear use. Now, it seems that some elephants at the Berlin Zoo in Germany like to wear socks – especially an Asian elephant named Mary.
A video abstract for the current Biology 2024 paper on elephant water hose use.CREDIT: Urban et al./Current Biology
VIDEO: A video abstract for the current Biology 2024 paper on the use of the elephant’s water hose. CREDIT: Urban et al./Current Biology
“Elephants are amazing with guts,” Michael Brecht, a study co-author and neuroscientist at Berlin’s Humboldt University, said in a statement. “As is often the case with elephants, bowel habits vary greatly from animal to animal; Mary the elephant is the shower queen.”
Study co-author and PhD student at Berlin’s Humboldt University, Lena Kaufmann, witnessed Mary using the hose as a shower and captured some footage. The team was immediately impressed with this behavior, and co-author Lea Urban decided to analyze it in more detail.
“I hadn’t thought much about guts as tools before, but what came out of Leah’s work is that elephants have a great understanding of these tools,” says Brecht.
[Related: Neanderthals likely used glue to make tools.]
They discovered that Mary systematically showered her body. It coordinates the water hose using its limbs. She usually uses her trunk to grab the hose behind her tip to use it as a rigid shower head. To get back on her back, she uses a more lasso-like strategy. She grabs the hose higher and swings it over her body. When presented with a larger, heavier hose, Mary used her trunk to wash instead of the larger, less useful hose.
According to the team, these behaviors provide a new example of goal-directed tool use in animals. However, what surprised them the most was how another Asian elephant named Anchali reacted during Mary’s shower.
Both elephants showed aggressive interactions during shower time. At one point, Anchali started pulling the hose towards herself and away from Mary. This lifted and twisted the hose and cut off the water flow. While the team isn’t entirely sure of Anchali’s intentions behind this, it appeared that she was exhibiting some sort of behavior of using the second tool, possibly as an act of sabotage.
A ‘standard’ in the hose further disrupts the flow of water in the hose. CREDIT: Urban et al-Current Biology
VIDEO: A ‘standard’ in the hose further disrupts the flow of water in the hose. CREDIT: Urban et al-Current Biology
“The surprise was definitely Anchali’s awkward behavior,” says Brecht. “No one thought she would be smart enough to pull such a trick.”
According to Brecht, there was much debate in the laboratory about Anchali’s behavior and what she might say. The team then watched Anchali find another way to ruin Mary’s shower. In the second case, she did what the researchers call a “buckle” to stop the flow of water. Anchali placed her trunk on the gut and then lowered her body onto it.
Bringing Anchali’s Kink and Clip. The authors of this study were very surprised by this behavior. CREDIT: Urban et al-Current Biology
VIDEO: Bringing Anchali’s Kink and Clip. The authors of this study were very surprised by this behavior. CREDIT: Urban et al-Current Biology
Elephants are trained not to step on intestines and very rarely do. The team suspects this is why Anchali devised a more challenging solution to stop the water from flowing during Mary’s showers without stepping on her.
“When Anchali came up with a second behavior that cut off Mary’s water flow, I became very convinced that she was trying to sabotage Mary,” Brecht said.
[Related: Female sea otters use tools more than males.]
According to the team, the results are a reminder of how well elephants can manipulate and use tools. This is made possible by the strong grasping ability of their trunks. These appendages contain about 150,000 muscle units and may be the most sensitive organ found in mammals. The team hopes to explore what this discovery means with captive elephants for elephants in their natural habitats.
“Do elephants play tricks on each other in the wild?” asked Brecht. “When I first saw Anchalia’s cramp and grip, I burst out laughing. So, I wonder, does Anchali think this is funny too, or is she just being mean?”