This elephant gives himself a nice shower with a hose. But another elephant keeps destroying them

When the staff at the Berlin Zoo shower the elephants, they don’t bother about Mary. They just hand him the pipe and let him take it.

Not only does Mary love to bathe, but she’s really good at it. So good, in fact, that his creative bath time ritual is the subject of a new study on the use of animal tools.

“If you look at the pictures, they’re pretty good,” co-author Michael Brecht, a neuroscientist at Humboldt University of Berlin, told me. As It Happened hosted by Nil Köksal.

“He has a great knowledge of how to use pipes, and he has very impressive techniques.”

Scientists who work with elephants say that the findings, published in the journal Current Biologyis another example of the complex cognitive abilities of animals and the ability to adapt to their environment.

But others caution that the size of a single sample is too small to draw widespread conclusions, and question the ethics of keeping elephants in captivity.

From trunk to toes

No one taught Mary how to use a pipe. His caregivers told the study authors that he became self-centered.

And when the researchers started filming him, Brecht says it became clear that he had more fluid movements.

Mary moves her entire body systematically, from trunk to toes, adjusting her grip and limbs accordingly.

When he washes the front and sides, he holds the hose near his mouth to straighten. But when it’s time to wash his back, he holds it upside down, then swings it over his head like a lasso.

He even adjusted his work style when he was given a small pipe, although Brecht said he was upset about the change of schedule.

“He doesn’t seem enthusiastic,” said Brecht. “Don’t say.”

Mary is the only elephant at Berlin Zoo who takes a shower, Brecht said, but she’s not the only one who gets started. Earlier this year, he and his team co-authored a study on Berlin Zoo’s elephant, Pang Pha, who peels his own banana.

A possible killer?

Mary seems to enjoy her bath time, Brecht said. But the zoo’s youngest elephant, Anchali, keeps getting in the way – literally.

Anchali, the daughter of a banana farmer, has been seen repeatedly bending over and holding the pipe until she interrupts Mary’s showers.

Mary and Anchali, Brecht says, have a history of conflict at the zoo, with Mary as the main instigator. Mary has also been given extra time to shower during class, so she suspects that the jealous Anchali is wasting her showers on purpose.

“I think it’s reasonable to call it vandalism,” he said.

Co-author Lena Kaufmann, a doctoral student at Humboldt, disagrees. He told the New York Times that Brecht’s theory is “far-fetched.”

The writers tried to test it by giving Anchhali two pipes, one connected to Mary’s shower, and one that wasn’t. He chose to kick the one closest to him, no matter if it affects Mary.

But the results, Brecht says, are not perfect. It is possible that Anchali did not know which pipe belonged to Mary. Or he may have stopped behaving because the zoo staff often yelled at him for dirtying Mary’s showers.

“It’s hard to be sure what his intentions are,” Brecht said. “We won’t ask him.”

Chase LaDue, an elephant expert who was not involved in the study, says that it is possible that Anchali was just playing with the pipe.

“It’s common to see elephants manipulating food and non-food objects in a way reminiscent of a toddler playing with a toy or an adult playing with office supplies on their desk,” LaDue, a conservation scientist at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, said.

Captivity creates conflict, says scientist

He called the study “another example of the complexity of elephants’ minds.”

“Although this research only reports on the specific abilities of one elephant, the findings suggest that other elephants are also capable of behaving in this way,” he said.

“I’ve seen firsthand that elephants use pipes like these to bathe, bathe in overhanging feeders with well-maintained sticks, and return empty feeding bowls to keepers after mealtime.”

Mickey Pardo, an environmental ethologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, said he studies wild elephantscautioned against drawing wild conclusions about Asian elephants based on Mary’s behavior alone. But he said “it’s still very important to report this behavior in the scientific literature.”

While he can’t confirm that Anchali is messing with Mary on purpose, he says that the conflict between them could be a result of their abduction.

Elephants in the wild, he says, are less aggressive than those in parks, partly because they are more active and active, but also because of their complex structures.

“In the wild, female elephants live with their relatives, but zoo elephants are often housed with people who are not related to them and did not grow up with them. Wild elephants can also choose when and how much they will meet … and when they are confined, they are forced to stay in front of each other,” he said.

While he appreciates the German scientists’ research, Pardo says he believes elephants should be free.

“To be honest, keeping elephants in captivity is stupid and this practice must be stopped.”