Observational evidence has long suggested that elephants are pretty smart; they can mimic sounds they hear, they have elaborate death rituals, and they can rock out on the harmonica. However, due to their sheer size and their frightening ability to crush a skull with one stomp of their foot, little experimental research has been done on their cognitive skills. Now, a new study in PNAS shows that elephants know when they need help, and they also understand the role of a partner in cooperative tasks.

The researchers studied 12 elephants at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand, and modified a task that has been used in cooperation research in several other species. A sliding table carrying two food bowls could be moved only by pulling both ends of a rope that was threaded through two pullies. If only one end of the rope was pulled, the rope became unthreaded and the table would not move. This apparatus was placed behind a transparent barrier (a volleyball net) so that the elephants could see the set-up but couldn’t reach the food. The elephants were released into two different lanes on the other side of the net, with one end of the rope lying in each lane.

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Elephants understand the value of cooperation