Elephants and Abstract Thought

Art is an area which we humans perceive to be exclusively our own and of our creation, and it has admittedly taken some time for the inklings of abstract thought to be observed in non-human animals. We’ve had to dovetail into it by exercising our ‘power’ over animals by conditioning them to perform tricks for our amusement, more akin to manipulation than accentuating an animals’ unique abilities.

Most animals can be conditioned into performing through the rudimentary action-reaction practice where an action is positively rewarded with food or affection; but within the last thirty years the flagship species for animal intelligence – apes, dolphins, and elephants – have had their performances further analyzed and most importantly freed from human pressure and has allowed humans the chance to witness abstract thinking in a non-human form.

There is a novelty behind watching an elephant paint on a canvas but when one focuses on the basic abilities being exhibited the conclusion is remarkably profound: Elephants possess the ability to see in color but because they are terrestrial herbivores, their eyes are placed on the sides of their head to panoramically scan for predators. The ability for a prey animal to replicate an image with more tact than a primate such as a chimpanzee - whose forward facing eyes warrant three-dimensional vision – is an astounding instance of apparent convergent evolution, most importantly the evolution of thought & feeling.

BBC Science Bank on Elephant Intelligence & Their Capacity: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/302feature1.shtml