Elephant Self-Awareness

You may recall that in October of last year (2006) an experiment conducted at the Bronx Zoo in New York found that elephants possess the capacity for self-recognition, meaning that an individual animal can identify, recognize and differentiate itself from its peers. This trait is considered to be a major gauge for non-human intelligence, seen elsewhere only in the apes and bottlenose dolphins.

When you look at the photos of Happy and her fellow Bronx pachyderms caressing a painted ‘X’ on her forehead the flatlined scientific assessment is conclusive – indeed, elephants recognize themselves, in the singular and plural relations of their herd. But anyone who has seen elephants before in their lives – especially so younger children who actually gyrate excitedly upon seeing the animals at a zoo – has already known this, subconsciously or otherwise.

These immense animals are hugely powerful, leathery gray skin just barely concealing their bulk: but when these living mountains move it is with a slow, steadied elegance rather than the clunky cacophony of a mechanical tank. Regardless if one can clearly see their mahogany eyes, you know that they are taking it all in. They’re watching their environment and those interacting with it in a worldly, Buddhist gaze; the elephants know what their bodies are capable of but such a mindless, brazen exhibition of that wrath would go against what they are, within their own herds and to us as observers. Only when it is necessary to protect their young or defend themselves will they break their Zen, and even after that offense they immediately resume their knowingness.

BBC News Article Detailing the Bronx Zoo's Mirror Experiment: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6100430.stm