Elephant displays sophisticated hose skills at Berlin Zoo and fascinates scientists | DW News

[@givemespace2742]

The other elephant is trying to work out how to pinch the hose to shut off the water, proving elephants have a sense of humour 😂

[@shanefranklin575]

Elephants are really intelligent, in Sri Lanka, we have elephants, they have figured out that wood doesn't conduct electricity, so they kick & break electric fence posts when they want to cross. There is one, which closes a road, just stands in the middle of the road & lets vehicles pass her only they give her food 😂 these are all wild elephants

[@sharingsharedudebro1236]

toll tax hahaha

[@bertkreft9689]

here in berlin we have foxes - crows and starlings - an they are incredibly intelligent - but semi domesticated - only half wild

[@timdowney6721]

@@bertkreft9689 Or, are the foxes, crows, and starlings are "domesticating" us by getting humans to provide them a survival advantage?

[@dianafarmer5445]

How cool.

[@heather-cz8yk]

Thank you for information!! Love from Canada To Sri Lanka!!

[@vedounamanicadimasochisti]

Nothing to be surprised about if you know elephants one tiny bit, but it's cool to hear them talking about it and making it look like something extraordinary because it actually is. Protect them at any cost.

[@lovepet4565]

I do not want to live in a planet 🌎 without any Elephants 🐘.

[@lamdao1242]

Yes. Or any other animal In fact I cannot imagine a heaven without all the magnificent animals that have lived with us on earth.

[@seang9450]

Lol she I like how she stops to take a sip😂.

[@siewheilou399]

Elephants can live up to 80 years, and have excellent memories, and this is a surprise?

[@_____alyptic]

Yeah I'm not shocked by elephants doing it, they're pretty smart but the spatial awareness while doing it of getting water in every spot is interesting

[@trninfan]

By that logic, you wouldn't be surprised if the elephants started writing poetry one day. The list of animals that use tools is a very short list. So yes, it is surprising. This is made even more obvious because the elephant's neighbors aren't learning the behavior.

[@JohnEastmanExAttyAtLaw]

exactly. they found out that elephants can paint pictures of themselves over 100 years ago.

[@wanderingseth]

Right? It's almost as if they're aren't insanely intelligent and aware 😂

[@wanderingseth]

​@@trninfanwriting poetry would surprise me. Learning how to pick up a hose and angle it in a certain direction does not. We've already seen that elephants appreciate music and that they can paint. So yeah, they do have a reasonable range that DOES include art!

[@tinaperez7393]

It makes sense - she's using it as an extension of her trunk.

[@kirbywaite1586]

Exactly.

[@Carol-Lyne]

Well said!! ❤

[@GarthWatkins-th3jt]

Yep, it's common sense. As it turns out humans are slow to understand the world around them is much smarter than given credit. Just because "animals" lack an opposable thumb doesn't mean they can't or won't think. Let that sink in and change the mental landscape. Also, take another look at the duck billed platypus. If that animal evolved, I'm the pope in rome. If I was a geneticist the platypus is the kind of impossible creature I would make in a lab to show off and/or show that it could be done. There's a lot of sh*t we're not being told and what they do teach or tell us is bunch of lies. History is a set of lies agreed upon. A greed up on and in the family tree of humanity.... History is now tomorrow. Think the lies have ceased?¿?¿? No.....but elephants don't lie or forget, thumbs or no thumbs.

[@SMCCRADY2]

Animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit. Plus they learn by watching us!

[@elizabethannegrey6285]

In their natural habitat elephants draw water up into their trunks then spray themselves. This elephant has taken things a step further. Elephants are wonderfully intelligent.

[@allisonjames2923]

Can’t wait until she starts singing in the shower! And her “friend” trying to cut Mary’s shower short was funny 🤭

[@Vicki_Benji]

Elephants are so intelligent!

[@carlosspeicywiener7018]

Casual understanding of basic tools. Very impressive

[@fortantkalonji227]

Elephant 🐘 is wise animal

[@auntyshakira747]

My mummy dog gets jealous very easily. It sounds like Marys sibling is jealous about the 'extra' shower time and attention she gets.❤😂❤

[@timdowney6721]

Yep, "human" emotions are hardly limited to humans.

[@RM-qq5rj]

The hose is just like their trunks. They would be able to understand it pretty easily, it just doesn't need the water to be held in their mouth or trunk, it just freely flows out of the hose. That would be their only learning curve. Seems pretty logical transferring the concept of their understanding of how their own trunk works to how the hose works.

[@trueaussie9230]

Soooo ... a baby who knows how their hand works will easily manage washing themselves with a hose?! 🤔 JOOI - do you not understand what the term 'learning curve' means?! SMH

[@RM-qq5rj]

@trueaussie9230 this is an adult elephant with plenty of experience using her trunk and developing coordination, not a human baby. You're comparing apples to oranges. Human babies cannot wash themselves, they haven't developed fine motorskill coordination, that's why they can't even feed themselves well or pick things up in their first year to two years. Baby elephants are similar and don't have coordination using their trunks like adult elephants do. If this was a baby elephant using a hose then that would be more impressive. The adult knows how to use its trunk.

[@trueaussie9230]

@RM-qq5rj I wasn't comparing anything. I certainly didn't mention apple or oranges. Despite your apparent belief, unlike its trunk the hose is not part of the elephant's body. As you note the elephant has mastered the use of its own trunk. Use of the hose is something new to master. Not only do you not understand the term 'learning curve' or how/where to use it, you're not very good at lateral thinking.

[@jeff__w]

That was my thought, exactly, too. I would think that progress in learning to manipulate* the hose to do whatever the elephant wants constitutes the learning curve-and elephants are good at manipulating things with their trunks so it would be a short, shallow learning curve. In other respects, the hose is, as you say, just like their trunks for the purposes of directing and spraying water. _*edited to account for trueaussie9230's comment_

[@trueaussie9230]

@@jeff__w The term 'learning curve' pertains to the rate of a [person's] progress in gaining experience or new skills. It does NOT pertain to the skills or experience acquired. One prominent difference between the elephant's trunk and the hose HELD IN AND MANIPULATED BY said trunk is that, unlike the trunk, the hose is a 'foreign object' that is not integrated into the elephant's nervous system. By your logic, any human who knows how to use their hands will very quickly become adept at using anything held in those hands. You grossly under-estimate the intelligence of elephants.

[@joaoazevedo7832]

🤩🤩🤩Elephants are the soul of this Planet. they are beautiful and very intelligent creatures and if someone threatens them they can make a lot of damage also.

[@bertkreft9689]

here on KZbin there is a great video from India where people moved their entire village to clear the elephant corridor, not entirely involuntarily because they were constantly in trouble and the nature conservation helped them to find a new place to live

[@briseboy]

EVERY other animal than ourselves has EQUAL validity. Brains evolved to record and make coherent all the sensory experiences and motor activity ANY animal performs. No "souls" are involved - ONLY the completely unique experiences, memories, associations, and novel combinations that one discovers through observation and imitation. What IS magic is evolution and adaptation, resulting in continuing uniqueness since the first RNA and DNA combinations replicated. LIFE itself is beautiful and NO bogus Spooks are involved.

[@Śiśna3633]

That is why we have elephant god here in India.

[@Kirnotsarg]

Elephant on the right: Come on, Mary! You are taking too long to shower. Let me take my turn.

[@keefriff99]

Haha! It actually looked like she was watching her with some wonder.

[@timdowney6721]

Yep using all the hot water!

[@TattooedGranny]

Elephants are incredible.❤

[@ktheodor3968]

In nature, we humans, we have *consistently* underestimated mind, bewusstsein, in other animals. Either, because other animals don't have verbal language or because we, humans, try to turn away from our cruelty to animals by believing that animals don't really feel like us because they don't really have a mind. In the case of elephants in the wild, it's been repeatedly witnessed that elephants grieve over the loss of a member of the pack. They can also linger around the body of their pack member for long after the animal has died to protect the body from predators. Over and over we humans how much we have underestimated other non-human minds.

[@Einnstadten]

underestimated? More like ignored...

[@F8Tributo]

I think sentience exists in varying degrees in all creatures, with humans at the top, then elephants, dolphins, pigs!, crows, dogs, etc etc. It's not like humans are the only ones with any consciousness!

[@ktheodor3968]

@F8Tributo Yes, consciousness, mind, is had by other animals. I think we can say that much at least. Humans at the top, as you say. But, humans at the top, are we really saying humans have a very complex verbal language to externalise a lot of the content of their consciousness, whereas the wolf, the dolphin and the ant just can't do that as humans can? Wait though, it can get even more complex than this: is consciousness entirely reducible to matter, to brain? Neurons firing on the brain are not, are they, my awesome experience of seeing a sunset, seeing red or listening to music that makes me sad, happy, etc. Bewusstsein, so mysterious to this day.

[@timdowney6721]

@@Einnstadten Or actively denied out of our hubris.

[@suzanneflowers2230]

God's creatures are smart, sentient beings with souls, like humans. Humans are also made in God's image, though. We humans must get to the Cross, receive forgiveness, then turn from our wickedness and live for Christ, our Savior. This starts to make us better people! Animals do not sin. They go directly to the Lord when they die. Humans have a choice. Receive forgiveness and know God, or reject Him and receive judgment. Choose wisely, friends!

[@MrDavePed]

Offer several hoses with various widened grasping areas. See which they prefer as the original hose is too narrow. Also see which temperature they prefer.

[@gngnome]

Elephants can learn to scrub with a brush too when provided with one. Wild elephants use branches & trunks of trees to similar effect after all. Birds use their own detached feather quills for a scratch. No surprises here. The sabotage aspect is interesting to establish states of mind.

[@Carol-Lyne]

Elephants, in my opinion, have a deeper emotional intelligence than even we have. They actually hold elephant funerals when they have a loved one pass away.

[@voiciray]

Totally agree. African elephants have been documented to demonstrate telepathic knowledge of a loved one passing (in this particular case, they showed up from hundreds of kilometers away to pay their respects two days after the death of a man who had saved their lives. Search for the name Lawrence Anthony, the Elephant Whisperer. All of it is a fascinating story). The Sheldrick's Trust has reported wild elephants in Tsavo National Park in Kenya showing up at their rescue rehabilitation units for medical care after instances of human-wildlife conflict, having been somehow told by former orphans released back into the park that these places are places where they would be helped.

[@elisekuby2009]

As soon as Mary catches on to how the water faucet is turned on and off, she will do it herself!

[@GaiaCarney]

Elephants are lovely, intelligent people! 🐘🐘 They love, get jealous, learn & play, just like us!

[@優しい風にふかれて]

本当に賢い。水圧をもう少し低くしたらもっと上手くホースを扱うだろう。こんなに賢くて優しい巨人を絶滅させてはならない。アフリカ象、アジア象。使役ゾウとしても人間に搾取されてはならない。私たち人間よりはるか昔から地球に住んでいた先輩です。大切にしましょう。日本にも、飼育員が掃除で使った水のホースをちゃんと丸めて片付け飼育員に渡す賢いアジア象のワルダーがいます。

[@mygirldarby]

Elephants understand the concept of a hose because their trunks are similar to a hose.

[@DanH-u3f]

The smarter elephant is the one on the right squeezing the hose.

[@JeffBilkins]

Noticed they were messing with the water pressure

[@gmunden1]

😂😂😂

[@NorthernChimp]

Please don't share your judgements about humans.

[@jam1960us]

Worker shortage is getting desperate I see

[@Paul_Wetor]

That's what I thought, too! Cut back on elephant washers.

[@969omo]

They should modify the hose so they can easily use it with their trunk. You know, like add a big nozzle that can be gripped easier.

[@jondor654]

That is just a trunk call away .

[@JRPGGUY]

Give her some privacy

[@ignorasmus]

😂😂

[@henaimtiyaz4189]

No. Give her back her habitat.

[@mortalclown3812]

​@henaimtiyaz4189 Easier said. The poor people who live closest to their natural habitat are not the ones to blame. It's bloody disingenuous when sofa ninjas stab at the problem thusly.

[@Foxheartbby]

They're acting like a cat is using a hose to clean itself. An elephant's trunk is basically like a hose already and theyre very intelligent. So of course this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

[@VanessaGreenlee-l6z]

I love elephants,they are my favor animals in the whole planet,and it makes glad to see them enjoying they're life.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🌏

[@boa1793]

I love it when the very young ones fling their trunks in circles, like, Wow, look at what I’ve got!

[@duncanapiyo6412]

Her trunk is a hose, it shouldn't surprise.

[@boeingpameesha9550]

Great, grand, good, great news to hear and delight to watch. My sincere thanks for sharing it. As said it's quite natural, there is nothing special, the truth is even kids do all living beings have brains.

[@HerbieBancock]

Every elephant that has ever lived does this. The only difference is this one isn't stopping to reload every few seconds.

[@mebeingU2]

The second elephant simply read the sign on shower rules - ‘5 minute showers only!’ Mary’s time was up!

[@samanthaanne512]

They should create a special attachment to the hose to make it easier for all elephants to bathe on their own. Should be easy since we have 3D printers 😊

[@namkangwai]

Elephant loves shower

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

If she had a pool to bathe in she would use her own trunk as a hose. But the zoo has denied her that, so she adapted.

[@DrD0000M]

Elephants can paint coherent looking paintings (when trained intensely), so learning to operate a hose isn't really a surprise. They're 5% hose already.

[@DanH-u3f]

They have big brains, larger than human brains.

[@WhyWorldWet]

I love how the other elephant was crimping her hose haha

[@jeroenwubbels7824]

duh, so do whales :D

[@Maaxxuu]

@@jeroenwubbels7824 larger brain by itself doesnt mean higher intelligence.

[@TheMercilessEye]

@@jeroenwubbels7824 And the evidence points to sperm whales surpassing humans in intelligence.

[@brendansunra]

They have large brains for their body size and a demonstrated level of intelligence that puts them on par with cetaceans and primates.

[@oljimeagle]

It’s basically the same way they bathe themselves with their own trunk.

[@lizgalindo5657]

Wonderful creature. Very smart elephant!😀

[@An1Kum]

That elephant has more brains than Germans.

[@lukehanley5392]

Correction…..More brains than voting Feminists.

[@briankleinschmidt3664]

Why should we think Elephants aren't at least as clever as men? They have HUGE brains.

[@sjoer]

If you visits any elephant camp around the world you would be amazed of what they are capable of :D

[@masaukochitsamba7808]

I will be even more impressed with her if she helped in paying the bill for water she is playing with.

[@sps6]

Ganesh is intelligent...elephants in indian subcontinent are respected for their deep memory and intelligence for thousands of years.....only now DW realised :)

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

They should give the elephants a pool so they can shower whenever they want.

[@steveread4021]

So an elephant works out how to use a hose, a tool not dissimilar to her own trunk, and washes with it. Elephants wash themselves in rivers. Is this really so remarkable? I have seen elephants in Sri Lanka, including one who was crying. They are definitely very intelligent and sensitive creatures.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Why was it crying?

[@steveread4021]

@gregorymalchuk272 The elephant was in a timber yard. She (I think ) had tears running down her trunk, I don't know why, but it affected me.

[@lawrencekelli]

Beautiful!

[@mortalclown3812]

Please tell us that those elephants have a large outside area, too. I realize that elephants are endangered and that sanctuaries are hard to come by, but this is critical for their well-being. (Fwiw, the Oregon Zoo is one of the very worst in the US for their elephants.)

[@robertbooth3699]

"When making an axe handle the model is not far off."

[@SpencerWilliamsIV]

The other elephant even learned how to kink the hose as a prank

[@voiciray]

I love elephants. Elephants are family. ❤️🐘❤️ Elephants suffer terribly in captivity, no matter how conscientious and well-intentioned the care provided may be. They have evolved to live in big social groups, to roam over vast distances and to walk on soft earth - not concrete. Almost all elephants that have spent time in captivity will suffer the rest of their lives with chronic foot infections. The ones who are kept in isolation will suffer mental trauma as well and have a hard time adjusting back to « normal » behavior for an elephant. Please consider rewilding these beautiful animals or letting them go to sanctuaries like GSE in Brazil.

[@daa4309]

I think the other elephant was jealous because she didn't know how to use the hose and wondered how Mary was doing it.

[@sibhuskyguy]

it just me or is the other elephant like hehehehe pinching off the hose? :P

[@Care2WorldBuild]

Just wanted to mention that there are hose ends that have lead. I hope someone can pass along to get hoses that don't have lead in their ends as the USA allows it. Lead has harmed people and the environment for a long time until we all decided to get rid of leaded gas (excepting avgas in the USA for small planes). Anyways, since kids sometimes drink from hoses while plating with water, I try to only buy non-leaded ends. Maybe Germany is safer in this environmental protection.

[@UnicornTears12]

As a foremost elephant expert I can tell you that elephants don't have a hose. It's called a trunk. Or as we scientists call it. The face noodle.

[@RSProduxx]

and that´s new ... how exactly?

[@deanosaur808]

Slow news day 😂

[@AltruisieX]

The Elephant is South Indian, they're well respected there, people bring them to festivals, take care of them where they learned that bathing skill, it's common there.

[@VN-ux2ep]

Surprised that you guys are seeing this for the first time!!😂😂😂😂

[@niteshades_promise]

are they 5 year olds? doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize elephants are born with hoses, yes they know how a hose works! 😂 🍻

[@robbpatterson6796]

Mary the elephant packed her trunk...

[@debbylou5729]

Why would that surprise anyone? Looks like an extension of the trunk

[@mho...]

how is that surprising? they understand their(&other elephants) trunks can do the same "waterspraying" & i bet they saw humans doing it a gazillion times. thats just a short step away from using the "endless trunk" by themself!

[@brandonadler1022]

I wanna see when the other elephant learns how to flush the toilet and give friend a zestier shower experience.

[@paulsmith2516]

How on earth would a scientist be surprised by the WELL DOCUMENTED high intelligence of an elephant. There's a reason they were used in circuses many many years ago. They can learn all sorts of non natural behaviours. They have a sense of humour too. Back in the bad old days when circus animals were a thing my Dad kew a famous British circus owner. We visited once and were looking round the animal paddock behind the Big Top while the owner was performing. After a while he came out to the paddock with his elephant, Maureen, and said hello to us and was chatting to Dad as Maureen wandered around the paddock even letting my Sis and I pet her. There was a circus truck with two tigers in it and Maureen decided it was time to wind the tigers up. She was waving her trunk in their faces, getting close enough to be ONE INCH out of their reach but never any closer. The tigers were going nuts, swiping at her and roaring while Sis and I laughed our heads off until the circus owner yelled at Maureen to stop it and she just wandered away trumpeting triumphantly with a massive smile on her face! Before anyone yells at me for this story, this was FORTY YEARS AGO and I was a KID! Obviously circuses keeping any of these magnificent animals is wronger than wrong and once I GREW UP I understood that fact completely so don't come for me. It's merely a story that illustrates my original point about their high intelligence.

[@chamindaprasanna7068]

Any idea of her Origins? She looks pretty Sri Lankan. Quite normal to have 3 times showers due to high humidity throughout the year, same goes to our Elephants.

[@Nikki-o5l]

She's doing better than me!!! 😂❤. I need her help. Is she for hire? She can wash my car, my dogs and me too! 😂❤❤❤❤. I like baths and not showers though...

[@brandocalifornia3024]

We didn't need franz to tell us she knows what she's doing

[@ROADTRIPNAVIGATER]

Very common sight in Kerela , India

[@mtarkes]

Asian specifically Indian elephants are very smart.

[@perishablegoods1344]

need to teach Mary how to shower the other elephant

[@Nanobits]

I am seeing more and more stories of animals who are interacting a lot with humans are picking up human traits, i think animals interacting with people are helping animals evolve.

[@webspec]

She is considering applying for a working permit and make a living out of the Zoo as lawn eater and waterer. She is only asking for a minimum 5 gallons free organic trash container for when she needs to go.

[@danielm8950]

Obviously it learned to bathe from watching humans in the shower.

[@DorothyTurner-m7r]

It looks like this poor elephant has a chain around its ankle. Please consider a transfer to an elephant sanctuary.

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

Elephants have used tree limbs as weapons by throwing them at rhinos.

[@Starlight03690]

Sanctuaries, outdoor freedom to be with their families. Respect & Protect them. Makes us wonder how majestic animals got taken from their homes to begin with? Greed, put in slavery, zoos, ( no more circus abuse) Every animal taken has been for selfish human greed, money, ignorance, testing cruelty. This will shift bigtime, cone to an end as we are AWAKENED to fact these are all MAJESTIC Souls, as we are & deserve to be FREE in their homes ( nature) families, un in terfered by man. No more greed, hunger, profit from stealing innocent souls. There is a light at the end of the tunnel & it is justice for innocence as we all awaken in the HEART & speak up, together it will shift thing's in a positive direction, as it already is. 🙏🏼💕🌟🐘💜☘️☮️

[@brandocalifornia3024]

I like it when they turn they're trainers in to eggos

[@wendyfrith3407]

This is totally wonderful. But I’d like to say one thing. All animals are intelligent, Each in its own special (species ) way. Otherwise they would not be here. But we’re more impressed when an animal, like elephants is intelligent in. _our_ way. I bet Mary has a sense of humor as well. And I think Mr. Brecht looks a bit like an elephant. If he grew his hair, where it is, much longer and wore a gray tracksuit Mary would fall in love with him.

[@mariafernandez5087]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤love The Way ❤❤❤

[@gracemcdonald6450]

Yeah, Show them you can be Elependable!! 🎉

[@geniferteal4178]

Mary's a bit loose.😮 some elephants are just natural hose!😂

[@iwonder-t1r]

It doesn't surprise me at all. They're incredibly intelligent!

[@colonelangus8247]

I'd be willing to bet she could be trained to work at a carwash (not the elephant the reporter).

[@news2hedz227]

I would pay double to have an elephant wash my car. Marketing genius.

[@blue_tongue_lizzy]

Free the elephant! 😡

[@Kim-lc3fv]

I will have to go visit Mary. 😊

[@alexmercer3001]

This is the same world we live where elephants are culled because humans couldn't solve food crisis, and worst part is other countries are just going to let them. Won't other countries help Zimbabwe by donating food and in return get these elephants and add them to their elephant reserve??

[@rahimxsh]

Kann Marry neben Trompeten Violine spielen? Ich bin neugerig ,wie sich Marry im Porzellanladen benimmt.

[@tajmajal4197]

Ha ha ha.

[@mattkramer4132]

I know some elephants who are smarter than most humans.

[@teresahall7469]

This shows how incredibly intelligent elephants are. Of course like humans, some are smarter than others! I would like to see these elephants in a more natural setting with pond as many are now happily in sanctuaries.

[@katrinabennett8344]

I actually find it rather repulsive, that the only thing to learn, the only changing information to sustain, is the movement and use of A F****** Hose, can't learn much from cement, but were just supposed to ignore and blow off those facts to point our fingers at the dancing monkey, some things never change, including how dumb they think we are

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

Is she available to wash my car?

[@gcorriveau6864]

Do "scientists" live under a rock somewhere when it comes to how animals behave? Many animals easily learn to use tools, imitate tasks they see others doing... sheesh.

[@ms1007901]

This is the first time I see it. You can post them all if you have cool stuff.

[@vedounamanicadimasochisti]

I assume they lowered themselves to the level of ordinary people just to make this sound like news.

[@niteshades_promise]

elephants are born with a hose. now my friends cat that used and flushed the toilet? that was impressive. 😂 🍻

[@stejer211]

This is nothing, I even know humans who have evolved into washing themselves.

[@alexred09]

Need to get her out of that zoo 😮 locking up such intelligent creatures is just wrong

[@sharonyoxall7553]

LOL - have they not seen elephants coating themselves in mud, when they are afforded the opportunity?