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General Science => General Science => Topic started by: thedoc on 15/03/2011 18:35:30

Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: thedoc on 15/03/2011 18:35:30

Researchers have shown that elephants are able to cooperate just as well as chimpanzees, to retrieve a tray of food that can't be retrieved by one individual alone.

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Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: yor_on on 23/03/2011 02:56:26

So smart she was :)
How about birds? Do they too cooperate ?

I know of experiments in where a bird had to do several things in a logic order to retrieve their food, very successfully btw. But I don't know if they can, or will, cooperate for getting it?

Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: chris on 23/03/2011 20:15:52

Birds definitely cooperate; there's a nice story that Nicky Clayton, from Cambridge, related to me about one member of the crow family. A group of birds were attempting to scavenge goodies from a waste bin. Working as a pair perched on opposite sides of the bin, they each alternately anchored the bin liner against the side of the bin while their partner used its beak to pull the liner up higher. Eventually, working like this, they had pulled the bag right out of the bin, bringing the rubbish inside within pecking distance. They then again took turns to grab the choicest titbits.

Chris

Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: Bored chemist on 24/03/2011 20:22:36

I know very little about elephants, but I suspect they would co-operate for one simple reason. There would be trouble if they argued.

Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: yor_on on 24/03/2011 20:51:30

And to think that they once was Velociraptors, ah, maybe?
Dinosaurs at least, with a brain the size of a pea, if I remember right?
Those crows are scary smart :)

Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: Bored chemist on 24/03/2011 21:11:03

The crows are not just smart, they have a better grasp of economics than some politicians.

Title: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: yor_on on 25/03/2011 03:07:42

I especially enjoyed the part where students had to disguise themselves to avoid getting mobbed by crows. A tough university to study in :)

Title: Re: Do elephants show cooperative behaviour?
Post by: JayJay on 04/09/2014 15:26:26

When I went to Africa I saw an elephant help another elephant who got stuck in a mud pit so I guess they do co-operate.

Here's some elephants dancing together. Does that count as cooperating?  [:)]