The old myths about clever animals may have been closer to the truth than science has been for much of its history. Until fairly recently, animals were considered to be unthinking machines and humans the only truly intelligent species. However, aided by new cognition tests that allow elephants to show their intelligence, scientist have discovered human and elephant's intelligence have much in common.

    Most contemporary ethnologists view the elephant as one of the world's most intelligent animals. With a mass of just over 5 kg, an elephant's brain has more mass than that of any other land animal. In addition, elephants have a total of 300 billion neurons. Elephant brains are similar to humans' in terms of general connectivity and areas. The elephants' cortex has as many neurons as human brain.

    Moreover, elephants manifest a wide variety of behaviors, including those associated with self-awareness, altruism, memory and communication. It has been proven scientifically that elephants' are self-aware. In one study an elephant called Happy would touch a white cross painted on her forehead, a test used to test self-awareness in children. She could only see it in a mirror and understood that she was looking at a reflection on herself.

    Elephants also practice altruism. There is a famous story of an Indian elephant called Chandrasekharan, who was working lifting poles off a truck as it moved along, and placing them in holes dug in the ground. When Chandrasekharan came to one holes he refused to put the log in. Eventually the Mahout checked and discovered a dog sleeping in it. Only when the dog was gone would Chandrasekharan put the pole in.

    Finally, elephants do have long memories. They eat an incredible variety of foods and need to cover large distances to get it. They need to know where to goat what time of year. They learn this and remember it. Also, they have complex communication and societies, and they need to remember all the different individuals' voices and smells in order to be socially adept.

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