Overview
- A peer-reviewed paper published Wednesday tested 16 Asian elephants at Thailand’s National Elephant Institute and found the animals reliably avoided an ineffective direct reach and used a trained side opening to get food.
- Researchers used a transparent box with small front holes that let elephants see and smell fruit but prevented direct reaching, forcing them to use an indirect, previously taught route around the box.
- When the box was rotated to change the opening’s location, elephants initially reached toward the old opening but rapidly corrected their approach, showing flexible inhibitory control.
- Older elephants took longer to adjust after the box was rotated, an age-related difference the authors note is preliminary and needs more study to determine whether it reflects cognitive decline.
- The team says the findings, reported in PLOS ONE, place elephant inhibitory control in the wider study of animal decision-making and could inform experiments to design fences or barriers that steer elephants away from farms.