Getting the Point

"According to an article published last week in Current Biology, African elephants in captivity "can use human pointing clues to find hidden food." Elephants aren't great at this. But they are as good as human two-year olds. And that's pretty good."

"The bottom line: you can show an elephant where you hid the food by pointing."

"Scientists have wondered whether our ancestors domesticated dogs (and other animals) because of their natural ability to read our gestures, eye movements and body language. Or whether they have developed sensitivity to us as a result of the long history of their domestication, whether we have bred this into them."

"The authors of the elephant study, Anna F. Smet and Richard W. Byrne, were interested in this question when they turned to study elephants. On the basis of their finding, they conclude, 'the elephant's native ability in interpreting social cues may have contributed to its long history of effective use by man.'"