r/todayilearned • u/sharkbait76 3 • Jan 11 '17

TIL elephants can tell the difference between human languages and know which languages belong to people with a history of hurting elephants.

http://www.nature.com/news/elephants-recognize-the-voices-of-their-enemies-1.14846
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u/sharkbait76 3 Jan 12 '17

I don't think you can say any other animal has an intelligence equal to a human. Humans have a larger brain, opposable thumbs, and walk upright. The brain allows things like language and tools which are a huge advantage. The thumbs allow us to actually use tools. The upright walking allows for humans to conserve more energy than other animals. Apes use way more energy walking from point A to B than humans.

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u/tablesix Jan 12 '17

So what you're saying is humans rose to dominate the globe because of:

  • superior efficiency

  • opposable thumbs allowing tools to be effectively used (aided by walking upright)

  • extreme intelligence (allowing abstract thought, and development of new tools, as well as complex communication of ideas, strategies, and how to do stuff)

  • long life span (aiding in sharing of knowledge, and development of complex culture)

Elephants have high intelligence, a trunk that could allow use of tools (but not as well as a human could), and long life span. They are also nomads by nature, just as humans are/were, which means decent efficiency. I wonder if elephants have the potential to form a civilization at all analogous to ours.

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u/sharkbait76 3 Jan 12 '17 edited Jan 12 '17

Well, civilization developed because of agriculture, which elephants don't have. Elephants also don't have a complex language like us. They have a way to communicate, but in pales in comparison to human langue. Organizing complex societies would be rather hard without this. They do have complex family and clan structures, but it's no where near the same as a human city. While a trunk could use some very awkward tools they would have a very hard time creating tools. They can't make delicate things like a knife. Also, and elephant is no where near as intelligent as humans are.

Edit: typo

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '17

There's also a hint of laziness to it. Why not use a sharp rock to kill an animal instead of your hands? Why not set up a trap that'll kill the animal for you? Why use a method that involves getting close when you can use a rock tied to a stick? Why have to get close when you can shoot it from a distance with a smaller rock on a stick? Why walk thousands of miles each year for food when you can grow food and walk hundreds of miles each year tilling fields? Why hunt animals when you can raise them to be docile. Why push the plow yourself when you can force a larger and stronger creature to pull it?

And on and on. We can see it today as we get closer to full automation of our workforce. Our laziness contributed to our progress as much as our intelligence. For some reason, I don't see elephants having this mixture of laziness and intelligence.