Stanley: I lost my brother years ago

Ford: (from the other room) QUIT TELLING PEOPLE I’M DEAD

Stanley: Sometimes I can still hear his voice

{ Cyclone Rachel }

When people want to direct the attention of others, they naturally do so by pointing, starting from a very young age. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on October 10 have shown that elephants spontaneously get the gist of human pointing and can use it as a cue for finding food. That’s all the more impressive given that many great apes fail to understand pointing when it’s done for them by human caretakers, the researchers say.

{ EurekAlert | Continue reading }

images { 1 | 2 }

{ Thanks Jessica }

Asian elephants have long been considered somewhat antisocial. Instead of living in large, tightly knit herds, as do female elephants on the African savanna, those in Asia were thought to have only small groups of friends and few outside connections. But a new study shows that many female Asian elephants are more like social butterflies, with numerous pals. And they’re able to maintain strong friendships even with those they have not seen in a year or more.

The study adds Asian elephants to a short list of other species, including dolphins, that are able to maintain complex social relationships despite not having daily contact, an ability regarded as being cognitively demanding.

{ Science | Continue reading | Read more: Elephant Research }

Elephants know the difference between good vibrations and bad, according to new research into the big animals’ low, rumbling alarm calls. They pay attention to seismic waves made by elephants they know and ignore those of strangers.

{ Science | Continue reading }

photo { Nick Brandt }