Scientists Say Elephants Experience Self-Awareness

Up until recently, scientists had shown that only three types of animals—great apes, bottlenose dolphins and humans—displayed characteristics of being aware they exist as distinct individuals separate from others. However, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month, a fourth species—elephants—can now be added to this list of self-aware animals.

Last year, researchers at the Bronx Zoo conducted a study with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to determine whether elephants could prove self-aware. They administered the mirror test, the standard scientific method for defining self-awareness, to three Asian elephants at the zoo. The team painted a small X above the eye of each elephant, and then exposed them to an 8-by-8-foot mirror erected in their enclosure for the experiment.

Most animals (and most human children less than 18 months old) will react to a mirror without recognizing themselves, perhaps looking behind it or believing the reflection is someone else, yet remaining unable to solve the mystery. However, the Bronx Zoo's 34-year-old elephant, Happy, actually looked in the mirror and repeatedly touched the mark with the tip of her trunk. She could not have seen the X without looking in the mirror, and an identical but invisible mark was also placed above her other eye, yet she did not touch that one.

Scientists believe that elephants' capacity for self-awareness corresponds to their mental and social complexity as well as the empathy and altruism they often show toward family members. "Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive capacities, making complex social systems and intelligence part of this picture," stated Frans de Waal, one of the project's researchers. "These parallels between humans and elephants suggest a convergent cognitive evolution possibly related to complex sociality and cooperation."

What You Can Do

- Being self-aware may be one of the reasons that elephants cannot thrive in zoos: perhaps they are all too aware that they are being deprived of the life they were meant for, compounding their misery. Join IDA's Elephant Task Force to help get elephants moved from cramped zoo enclosures into spacious sanctuaries. IDA is looking for activists living in cities with zoos to ensure the animals come first. Sign up or write to zoos@idausa.org for more information.

- Also learn more about IDA's Elephant Campaign.