An Asian elephant was seen washing himself with a fountain at a German zoo, demonstrating an especially complex skill.
Cameras at the Berlin Zoo recorded an elephant named Mary using a water fountain to bathe, even lifting her legs to make sure every corner of her body was washed. The researchers describe this as sophisticated behavior in a paper published in the journal Current Biology. However, perhaps jealous of Mary’s proficient self-cleaning skills, another elephant named Anchali tried to cause trouble by covering the nozzle and blocking the pipe to prevent her friend from bathing. Independent reported on November 8.
Both animals demonstrated purposeful tool-use behavior, according to the team at Humboldt University in Berlin. This behavior was once thought to be unique to humans, but recently researchers have observed it in chimpanzees, crows, elephants and many other animals. According to researcher Lena Kaufmann, previous research has shown that more than 80% of observed tool use behaviors in elephants actually involve body care. But a sprinkler is a particularly complex tool because it is flexible, can be stretched, and has water flowing through it.
“Mary’s skillful behavior with the water fountain led us to suggest that elephants may have some intuitive understanding of water fountains, perhaps due to similarities with their trunks,” Kaufman said.
Anchali and Mary were fierce towards each other. Anchali pulled the nozzle towards it and twisted it as it sought to cut off the water supply. What surprised the researchers was Anchali’s behavior of blocking the nozzle. No one thought it was smart enough to use such a trick. Elephants are often trained to avoid stepping on fountains, so Anchali’s behavior proves that he intentionally prevented Mary from bathing.
Mary secures the nozzle to the back of her head to use as an overhead showerhead. It also prefers to use the nozzle on the right side, but the skill can be adjusted based on the nozzle type. Therefore, the team called Mary the “bathing queen”.
However, experts wonder whether elephants act similarly in the wild. They also don’t know for sure whether Anchali’s actions came from jealousy or just for fun.