Research Corroborates the Popular Belief in Elephants' Remarkable Memories
Sure, let me rephrase that for you:
Elephants Never Forget: A Recent Study Affirms the Well-Known Elephant Memory. Although the findings from this experiment involving only two animals are still preliminary, as reported by Kiel University, they suggest that elephants can still identify the scent of their previous handlers even after a significant period.
It's common knowledge that elephants can recall watering holes they visited years ago and often recognize other elephants they haven't seen in a while. This study, however, was the first to explore whether elephants can also recall individuals of different species after a prolonged time.
Two elephant cows that had been transferred from Berlin Zoo to Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Lower Saxony, 13 years ago, were the subjects of the experiment. The researchers presented these African elephants with worn T-shirts and a life-sized image of their former Berlin handlers, along with stimuli from a person unknown to the elephants.
Interestingly, the elephants showed a stronger interest towards the scents of their former handlers. There were no significant differences in their response towards known and unknown individuals in the portrait photos and sound recordings.
One remarkable finding from this study was that the elephants recognized the scents of their former handlers after a 13-year gap. Furthermore, it's intriguing that one elephant displayed a stronger interest in the scent of her handler than the other, indicating individual variation in memory recall.
