SCIENCE LAB SCHEME : ELEPHANTS GRAND GESTURES

How do elephants like them Apples? By the trunkful : If you give an elephant an apple, she's going to want some more.

But how can she get through to the nearby humans who are keeping those luscious treats away from her?

After working with elephants in Zimbabwe, researchers reported that the animals are capable of making very deliberate gestures to communicate that desire for more.

That study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

To understand the research, think of how  humans get others to do what they want. Vesta Eleutri, a researcher at the University of  Vienna and the study's lead author, explained how she might signal to a friend non-verbally to pass her a bottle of water.

She might first check to see if the friend is looking at her, then point at the bottle and wait for your reaction. If the friend doesn't react,  she might wave toward the bottle.

'' To put elephants in a similar situation,  researchers stood in front of them with two trays. One tray was empty, the other had six apples.

When there was no human audience, the elephant did not gesture. As researchers faced the animals, the elephant began to move. One of them, Moka, waggled his trunk toward the apples. Another time Moka reached his trunk toward the researcher.

The experimenters responded in different ways  : Sometimes they gave the elephants only three apples, leaving three on the tray.

When that happened, Moka and other elephants persisted in signalling, as captive apes do in such a scenario, swinging their trunks.

In all, the researchers identified 38 types of gestures that the elephants used fofothis kind of signaling.

Richard Byrne, who studies the evolution of cognition at the University of St. Andrews in Edinburgh and was not involved in the study, said there was no doubt the elephants used their gestures intentionally.

He added that the gestures were comparable to the communication of humans and apes.

The World Students Society thanks Veronique Greenwood.