Let’s Discuss
1. 2. 3.
What do you think is Malala’s most extraordinary quality?
What do you think can be done to achieve equal rights for girls?
Why is it important for everyone to have the right to education?
Should you take a trip to the zoo or a safari, chances are, you will see an elephant idly grazing among the open plains, or occasionally flapping its ears and tail lazily, relaxed and calm. After all, they are considered to be the largest living mammals in the world, and have no natural predators.
Elephants also hold special religious and cultural significance in many countries. For example, in countries such as India, elephants represent the popular deity and in Thailand and Burma, elephants are a symbol of good luck.
Scientists have discovered that elephants have intelligence and a great memory too!
To begin with, elephants have large, complex brains. This is what gives them the ability to retain memories. When an elephant experiences something, it is able to store that experience in its brain as a memory. For example, if it experienced a drought when it was younger, it would be able to sense danger of a drought in a particular area in the future. They can also recall important places even if they have not been there for many years.
Elephants are also able to recognise all of their clan members. This is useful as it prevents them from getting lost in unknown herds. A pair of elephants who had performed in a circus together were separated for 23 years. When they were reunited, they were able to recognise one another!
Scientists have even found that elephants are able to make sense of basic arithmetic. For example, if you place a bunch of bananas in front of an elephant and remove several from the bunch, an elephant will sense that something is amiss.
Elephants are also able to recognise themselves in a mirror. In a study, scientists placed three elephants in front of a mirror. All three inspected themselves by rubbing their trunks against the length of the mirror, or probing their mouths with their trunks to see if their reflections did the same.
Elephants use vocal calls for communicating with each other, one of which is the famous trumpet-like sound that we usually hear. Elephants can also cry, scream, squeal and even roar to get their point across.
In a recent discovery, scientists found that at least two thirds of an elephant’s language is below the range of human hearing. These are called low-frequency sounds, or infrasounds. These sounds are low and powerful and can travel over several kilometres. This is especially helpful for elephants to send messages and warnings to each other over long distances. developing their social and physical skills. Studies have shown that young elephants play the most, and the sense of humour is different between males and females. They play around with stones, plants and even sticks.
A playful behaviour you will probably recognise is the signature ‘floppy run’, where an elephant runs about with its large ears swinging from side to side, trumpeting and snorting. It was even documented that male elephants like to wrestle while females like thrashing through vegetation.