Elephants in exclusive club

2006-11-01 13:11

Washington - Elephants can recognise themselves in a mirror - an important test of awareness that puts them in an exclusive club with humans, chimpanzees and dolphins, scientists reported on Tuesday.

One elephant in a study at the Bronx Zoo in New York went so far as to use the mirror to touch and explore a white "X" that had been painted on her head, the researchers report in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Maggie, Patty and Happy immediately went over to the mirror when they were let out, which was really a surprise to us because most animals, when exposed to a mirror, act immediately as if it were another animal," said Josh Plotnik, a graduate student at Emory University in Atlanta who worked on the study.

Elephants would be expected to be a bit stand-offish at first, he said.

The researchers set up a cumbersome experiment at the Bronx Zoo, spending weeks to install a pachyderm-proof covered mirror in the pen of the three female Asian elephants.

"They would go over smell it and then leave," Plotnik said.

But when the mirror was opened, the three elephants noticed right away.

"The three of them went straight to the mirror and immediately were touching and smelling it," Plotnik said.

"I was really surprised that there was no audible vocalisation," he said. "These elephants are extremely vocal. They went straight for it - there was a lot of smelling the very first day. Both Maxine and Patty tried to climb the mirror wall and look over it."

Before the elephant study, humans, chimpanzees and dolphins were believed to be the only animals capable of recognising themselves in a mirror.

Anyone who has seen a kitten jump at its reflection or a caged bird peck at a mirror knows there is a difference between looking at a mirror and recognising one's self in it.

One elephant in the Bronx Zoo study moved her head in and out of the mirror's reflection. "Then we saw self-directed behaviour, which is what humans do in front of the mirror - picking our teeth, picking our noses or whatever," Plotnik said.

"Maxine grabbed her left ear and pulled it slowly forward. All three put their trunks in their mouths, as if they were exploring."

But the big test came when they painted a white mark on each of the elephant's heads. To ensure that the elephants were seeing the mark, and not just checking to see what had been done to them, a "sham" mark using a similar but invisible compound was painted on the other side.

"Happy never touched the sham mark and she touched the other mark repeatedly in front of the mirror," Plotnik said.

The other two did not but the researchers were not surprised.

"Chimpanzees and humans groom by taking things off their bodies. Elephants don't do that at all," Plotnik said. "It is possible the other two saw this white mark on their heads and thought it inconsequential."

- Reuters