Rescued elephant fashions tools to perform routine tasks at Bannerghatta Biological Park

Officials at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) watched with surprise when a 20-year-old rescued elephant Sundar used 'tools' to carry out a few tasks.

As debates and researchers go on about the behavioural aspects of animals, watching the elephant stretching its trunk for a tool often raises questions if animals are on a similar learning curve as pre-historic humans who began using tools for their daily tasks.

BBP officials have been watching the elephant since 2014 and Sundar’s penchant for tools is notably absent in 23 other pachyderms at Bannerghatta.

Vanashree Vipin Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests and Executive Director of BBP, reasoned that other animals have a high level of cognition like humans. “It is normal for elephants to rub their bodies against a tree trunk or branch to dust off or chase away mites,” she told DH.

But Sundar uses a twig like a toothbrush to scratch his mouth and his ears, she added. His companion Menaka was also seen showing similar behaviour, as she scratches the underside of her neck and belly with a twig.

BBP’s education officer Amla Anil noted that the use of tools by elephants is not unique, though the level of complexity varies with individual animals.

“A 2001 study by Hart and others demonstrated how elephants use and modify branches to repel flies in the Rajiv Gandhi National Park at Nagarahole, indicating that the cerebral cortex in the brain and body ratio is greater than that of any primate species,” he said.

In Sundar’s case, officials have been observing this behaviour more closely for the past two months, Anil said.

A BBP staff explained that elephants have a similar cognitive ability to great apes such as chimpanzees to hew and use tools. “Even crows, dolphins, octopus, and monkeys show the ability to use tools to handle complex tasks,” he said.

Suresh, an elephant supervisor at BBP, said Sundar was rescued by PETA in 2014 from a temple in Maharashtra and has been rehabilitated at Bannerghatta since. “But, it is only in recent times that he has been using tools, often to perform some tasks,” he said.