• Elephants are NOT born with survival instincts; they learn behaviour, like humans, as they grow up, throughout their lives. For a period of about 10 years they have a large amount of learning to undergo. Parents-females in particular-play a crucial role by teaching the young to feed, relate to others, use tools and communicate
• Elephants possess a brain similar to humans’ brains in terms of structure and complexity…Their cerebrum temporal lobes are much larger than those of humans; these act as storage for memory. It is this fact which supports the theory of elephants’ big memories
• “The elephant is the largest of all land animals. It remembers all the duties which it has been taught. It is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and to a degree that is rare among men even, possesses notions of honesty, prudence, and equity…” (Pliny the Elder, encyclopaedic Historia Mundi Naturalis c.AD77-79)

By Patricia C. Prada Jimenez

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