NINJA ELEPHANTS
Many young elephants develop the naughty habit of plugging up the wooden bell they wear around their necks with good stodgy mud or clay so that the clappers cannot ring, in order to steal silently into a grove of cultivated bananas at night.
There they will have a whale of a time quietly stuffing, eating not only the bunches of bananas but the leaves and indeed the whole tree as well, and they will do this just beside the hut occupied by the owner of the grove, without waking him or any of his family. (Source)
Can you imagine? I’m thinking of elephants with black masks over their trunk and face, sneaking into these banana groves to stuff themselves.
SUPER GENTLE CREATURES, THOSE ELEPHANTS
[In India an] elephant was following a truck and, upon command, was pulling logs out of it to place in pre-dug holes in preparation for a ceremony.
The elephant continued to follow his master’s commands until they reached one hole where the elephant would not lower the log into the hole but held it in mid-air above the hole.
When the mahout [elephant driver] approached the hole to investigate, he found a dog sleeping at the bottom; only after chasing the dog away would the elephant lower the post into the hole. (Source)
This reminds me of this YouTube video where in Chile another stray dog risked its life to go and save an injured dog in the middle of a highway.
Or that journalist’s beautiful photo journal entry of a story dubbed “The Loyal Little Bird”. You can read the photos with the captions here (I cannot find the original source, it was printed in a newspaper).
SOME OCTOPUSES CARRY THEIR HOME WITH THEM
Veined octopuses observed off the coast of Indonesia carried coconut shell halves under their bodies, and assembled them as necessary into shelters — something that wasn’t supposed to be possible in their corner of the animal kingdom.
“The fact that the shell is carried for future use rather than as part of a specific task differentiates this behavior from other examples of object manipulation by octopuses,” wrote the researchers.
All this has come as a bit of a surprise to scientists. After all, octopuses are descended from mollusks. They’re more closely related to clams than to people. They’re not supposed to be smart. But it’s hard to argue with the evidence, and in recent years, researchers have grappled with the possibility that octopuses can even use tools. (Source)
I also learned on TV (*gasp* educational TV in my hotel room!) that octopuses have brains in their tentacles that operate independently from their big brain. 9 brains!
So cool.
RATS ARE SMART
Rats are smart and often work cooperatively.
At the former Gansevoort poultry market in Greenwich Village, New York, pest control authorities could not understand how rats were stealing eggs without breaking them, so one night an exterminator sat in hiding to watch.
What he saw was that one rat would embrace an egg with all four legs, then roll over on his back.
A second rat would then drag the first rat by its tail to their burrow, where they could share their prize in peace. (Source)
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Loved these stories. I had a pet rat and he was super intelligent. He came when I called his name, made up games to play with the dog, and had the biggest personality.
Animals are so much smarter than we give them credit for (and why not? We’re all just animals too)
I watched that documentary with the octopi carrying around coconut shells too. I wasn’t surprised by that nearly as much as I was by the scientists being surprised!
Makes you wonder what else they know 🙂
Apparently the gestating elephant at the Patara Elephant Farm where we rode elephants in Chiang Mai (incredible experience!) found a way to pull up stakes and went raiding nearby farms for the good stuff so it doesn’t surprise me that the elephants with bells figured out how to plug up their bells.
I watched our elephant group do the cleverest things casually – inspecting the nearby humans for food, stealing riper bananas from other baskets than the ones they were being fed from, mischievously squirting muddy water at me every so often on the ride for no particular reason (mine).
They seem like wonderful, playful animals. 🙂
I love this post. Animals are absolutely incredible. My dog once carried back a baby red wing blackbird without hurting her, after she had fallen out of her nest. He plunked her down and made sure to watch and make sure that we were taking care of her.
Awww!!!!!
I do not understand how people can label animals as being ‘dumb’. For one thing, they have a telepathic sixth sense that humans do not have. They are highly attuned to their environments and very perceptive and I frequently marvel at how smart my dog and cats are LOL A favorite story I once heard was of the fish that would float upside down in its tank (at CalTech, I think) whenever an earthquake was about to hit!
They’re really attuned to nature 🙂
If only we can save bees now, by not using our cellphones as much 🙁
Rats are creepy, but that is very awesome that they can do that!
1- that ninja elephant picture is possibly the cutest thing I’ve seen today
2- I love animal cooperation stories…my parents’ dog cooperates with my aunt’s dog when they’re together to steal socks. Not so cute 😛
3-the story about the rats made me laugh so hard I was crying, which made hubby think something was wrong with me. Now he REALLY thinks something is wrong with me, cuz he doesn’t think it’s funny. weirdo 🙂
Your family dogs steal socks!!? 🙂 That is kind of cute…
And that rat story is my favourite I think.
They’ve been known to steal other things when they’re together too (when one family is dogsitting for the other, or at family gatherings with dogs included), but I just remember one time when I was home from college, and only had one pair of dress socks with me, and they stole them! It wasn’t so cute when it was my only pair of socks, but I guess if I didn’t need the socks it would be cute 🙂
DUDE. My chihuahua stole socks for his bed too. And was an instigator that would get the other dogs to do stuff for him to help him escape the yard (lean on the fence hard enough to open a gap between the door/fence), then he’d leave them behind while he went gallivanting. They fell for it every time. Kind of hilarious. Worrisome, but hilarious now.
cool stories. 😀
We love elephants! We rode on an elephant a couple of times in Chiang Mai and it was amazing. Much more fun and can climb steeper hill than any SUV.
I remember riding one as a kid and the hairs sticking out of them tickled my
legs.
It’s always un-nerving (and awesome at the same time) when animals show conscious thoughts like people.
And what show were you watching that said that octopi have 9 brains? I’m pretty sure that’s not true. But they do have a complex neuro system and their arms have a “mind” of their own as per:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0907_octoarm.html
Hmm maybe that’s what the show meant and I mis-interpreted. (It was in
French…)
I love the story of the dog who risked his life trying to save another dog …. animals are so generous and smart; we can learn a lot by watching them.
Cute stories… I like the elephant who wouldn’t hurt the dog 🙂
Those are some awesome stories you’ve collected! I love that picture of the ninja elephant 🙂 wouldn’t that be awesome, a flying ninja elephant who can do awesome karate or wushu moves.
LOL!!!! It just sneaks up on you and eats all your food.
Thanks for this post. As an animal rights advocate I try to tell people all the time that non-humans are intelligent. But people don’t understand. We are the ones that are not intelligent, since all we ever do is destroy. Humans are truly not that special.
Octopi are also AMAZING 🙂 They’re so intelligent (I watch a lot of animal
shows).
I found the octopus story the most fascinating. I think we still have much to learn about intelligence in the oceans and seas.