Test Your Knowledge Of Animal Intelligence With This Fact-Packed Quiz!

Why did researchers underestimate elephant intelligence for decades?

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An elephant is seen in Addo Elephant National Park on April 4, 2023.
Retry Correct Incorrect According to Scientific American, researchers of the past tried to test elephant intelligence with similar stick puzzles they had used with chimpanzees. However, all this proved was that elephants have poor eyesight. When experiments more tailored to an elephant’s sense of smell were employed, they found that elephants were “adept tool users and cooperative problem solvers.”
Michele Spatari/AFP via Getty Images
Michele Spatari/AFP via Getty Images

Why did researchers underestimate elephant intelligence for decades?

  • “Elephants never forget” is too exaggerated
  • The research experiments relied on elephant eyesight too much
  • They kept getting distracted by mice during experiments
  • The elephants
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