Elephants have shown the ability to add and estimate small quantities.Researchers in Japan tested the giant mammals by dropping a different number of apples into two baskets. The elephants were able to correctly identify which baskets had more apples 74 percent of the time, and continued with that rate of success even after more apples were added into each basket.
While other animals seem to be able to count, elephants are unique in their ability to distinguish between two figures that is not mitigated when numbers become more similar.
While that's pretty amazing, we remain disappointed by real-life elephants. At an early age, we were led to believe they could flap their ears and fly, though we've yet to see any proof of that.
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Thursday 09 October
By Sully
Actually, it turns out animals can respond to even the slightest nonverbal cues from humans, and if the people studying the animals knew the correct answer and were in the same area as the elephant, it is very possible that they unintentionally gave the animal the correct answer.
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