How can we decide what species can be taken into captivity? There are many factors to consider when assessing whether an animal can live an adequate lifestyle in captivity. Among these factors, is assessing the cognitive capacity of the animal in question.

One family of species that is well known for their intelligence, is the family Elephantidae — modern day African and Asian elephants. Sadly, these species are also well known as ” zoo attractions.”

Image courtesy of Thomson Safaras; Source: You Wont Forget: The Difference between African and Asian Elephants 

It has been thoroughly observed, and studied, that elephants have an outstanding emotional capacity, which is an indicator of their advanced cognitive capacity. Elephants can embody a wide range of emotions: They are known to form families, and friendships with others, they are known to mourn the deaths of their kin, and most ironically, elephants are able to express the feeling of empathy– something we clearly lack, in lieu of placing the largest land mammals on the planet in captivity.

Zoos are unable to accommodate a number of elephants great enough to provide an environment where they can form relationships that would have otherwise formed, had they not been placed in captivity. These relationships are essential to the livelihood of the animal, and govern a large role in the way that the species develops.  Essentially, zoos ignore the species inherent cognitive ability to learn from others, and deprive them of these resources.

Moreover, when taken from the wild, it must be noted that the elephant is able to actively recognize that it is being abducted from its family, and friends.

Elephants are undoubtedly an intelligent species, but it may surprise you to realize the degree of their intelligence. A study was conducted by a researcher, Diana Reiss (and colleagues), to test the insightful nature of several elephants. They tied food to branches of bamboo trees that were out of reach for the elephants. They observed that the elephants were able to problem solve, and obtained their food through the use of tools. This is an indicator of a greater level of intelligence in comparison to other species. Below is actual footage from the study, courtesy of the Smithsonian National Zoo.

With the blatant humanistic qualities held by these animals, its baffling to realize that their are still currently around 300 captive elephants in North America alone. However, with some degree of optimism, individuals whom are advocating for elephant freedom believe that this number will reach zero in our lifetime, that is, if we can prove our own empathetic nature.

-Ali