Individual innovation is often seen as a hallmark of intelligence across species. Elephants, in particular, have attracted much attention from researchers due to their advanced problem-solving skills. A recent study published in the journal Animal Behavior outlines the results of a half-year study. This study looked at the ability of individual wild Asian elephants to obtain food by solving puzzles to open storage containers.
The study's first author, Sarah Jacobson, is a psychology doctoral candidate studying animal cognition at the CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College. "This is important knowledge because how animals think and innovate may affect their ability to survive in environments that are rapidly changing due to human presence," he said.
Camera shutter captures a bull elephant interacting with a puzzle box at Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. The structure of the puzzle box is: a push door at the top, a sliding door in the middle, and a sliding door at the bottom. Source: Conservation Comparative Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Hunter College
The study, conducted at Salakpara Wildlife Sanctuary in Kamchanaburi Province, Thailand, used motion-activated cameras to observe 77 wild Asian elephants as they approached and decided whether to try to open a puzzle box containing three differently configured compartments of jackfruit. Depending on which compartment the elephant has access to, the elephant can access the jackfruit by pulling the chain so the door opens toward the elephant, pushing the door so it swings open toward the box, or sliding the door to the right. The elephant must independently interact with the puzzle box to discover how to open the compartments.
Over time, 44 elephants who approached the puzzle box interacted with the puzzle box, but there were individual differences in the elephants' degree of innovation. The researchers found that elephants that interacted more frequently and with greater persistence with the puzzle boxes were more successful in retrieving food from three differently configured compartments. Overall, 11 elephants solved the problem in one compartment type and 8 elephants solved the problem in both compartment types. Five Elephants solves all three types of problems and is therefore the most innovative.
The study's principal investigator, Dr. Joshua Plotnik, is a professor of psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College and Sarah Jacobson's thesis advisor. Investigating elephants’ innovative and problem-solving abilities can help us understand cognitive flexibility in wild elephants and its potential implications for conservation management and mitigating human-elephant conflict.