When it comes to overall intelligence Elephants are some of the smartest animals on the planet earth. They are one of the few species besides humans that have shown to have some level of self awareness. A video going viral of how a mother elephant reacted when she thought her child was in trouble conveys just how smart they really are.
Video Showing Prague Zoo Mother Elephant Asking Zookeepers For Help with Baby Elephant Who Wouldn’t Wake Up Goes Viral
What would most parents do if they tried waking up their child to no avail? Using our high level of intelligence the natural thing would be to call for help. In most cases any other type of animal would never think of getting help, and instead just keep circling around the body of their lifeless baby, or just abandon them. Some animals would even eat their offspring in a situation like that.
However, when it comes to Elephants their massive brains allow them the same ability we have for complex thinking in tough situations. A viral video shows how a Prague Zoo mother Elephant asking zookeepers for help when her baby elephant wouldn’t wake up from the ground. You could even see the elephant point to where her child was laying lifelessly when she alerted the zookeepers. The plot twist was apparently the baby elephant was sleeping so deeply it just needed a very hard push to wakeup.
How Big is an Elephant’s Brain? Does their Brain Size Equate to More Intelligence?
An Elephant’s brain weighs around 12 pounds, which is 4 times heavier than human’s brain. However, due to their large size their brain to body-mass ratio is much higher. An Elephant’s brain to body mass ratio is 1/560, which is a measurement of how large their brain is in comparison to their body size. By comparison the human brain to body-mass ratio is 1/40. As such in reality if we were the size of elephants our brains would be much larger.
However, intelligence actually has little to do with overall brain size. Animals like dogs and cats have much lower brain to body-mass measurements than elephants despite being much less intelligent. The real factor that plays a part in intelligence is the amount of neurons an animal possesses. Guess, which two animals have the highest amount of neurons besides humans? The African Elephant at 11 billion neurons, and Killer Whales at 10.5 Billion. Killer whales, elephants, and dolphins are known as the smartest animals on the planet besides humans.
The elephant mother alerting zookeepers her baby elephant wouldn’t wake up is a testament to why animals should be treated with more respect.
