This is an article from National Geographic Italy. So I have translated it for you all because I just loved it, and I'm sure everyone will. There is also a link to the video here. And if you want to read it in the original Italian I have also left the link below.

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For the first time an elephant has been shown to be able to visualize a problem, plan a solution, and then put the plan into practice.

Kandula, and Asian elephant at Washington National Zoo, was filmed using a plastic cube to reach fruit in some high branches of a tree.

To imagine a problem: think of a solution and then put a plan into practice: is an ability we share with very few other animals, including Chimps, Crows and very few other creatures. From now on we can add Elephants to this short list.

Kandula is a seven year old Asian elephant at Washington National Zoo.

Please watch the video to see Kandula in action

This was an experiment in which the fruit had been suspended on a high branch out of Kandula’s reach.

Apparently, Kandula gave it some thought, and then went to get the plastic cube. He rolled the cube underneath the branches with the fruit on, and stood on the cube with two feet to reach up with his trunk and get his prize.

Diane Reiss, a researcher into animal intelligence, maintains “Kandula had never used an object to step onto and reach other objects before, and had not arrived at this solution by trial and error. All the evidence shows the pachyderm had a spontaneous idea: He showed himself capable of working out a problem and putting a plan into practice”.

Researchers had left various objects available to Kandula to use to attempt to reach the fruit: for example, sticks, which he could use to reach up and hit the branch and make the fruit drop.

But Kandula did'nt use them. At first this left the researchers perplexed, until they realized that it would have been unnatural elephant behavior.

We know that elephants do use sticks, for example to scratch their backs. But never to find or reach food. This is because smell is so important to elephants, and they smell through their trunks. So they would not be able to smell anything if the held anything in their trunks.

The experiment was repeated over several days in 20 minute sessions. The first seven times Kandula just stood  and looked at the fruit without trying to reach it or use any object to reach  for it.

Dan Moore, one of the co-authors of this report (published in PLoS ONE) and also an associate director of the national zoo, reminds us that “Kandula is an exceptionally curious and intelligent elephant. We know all elephants are intelligent, but we think Kandula is one of the most intelligent”.

Moore also hopes that this study will draw public attention the plight of these Asian Elephants which are in danger of becoming extinct. “This type of research can help us to empathise more with animals, because it makes them more like us. And perhaps if we empathise, we will be more willing to protect them”.

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