Elephants are quick learners, offer helping hand

Elephants quickly learn to lend each other a helping hand — ah, make that a helping trunk.

In a series of tests, the giant mammals learned to cooperate to solve a problem, researchers report in Monday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Elephants are socially complex, explained lead researcher Joshua M. Plotnik.

"They help others in distress," he said. "They seem in some ways emotionally attached to each other, so you would expect there would be some level of cooperation."

However, he added, "I was surprised how quickly they learned."

The elephants caught on as quickly as chimpanzees, elevating themselves to such heady company as great apes, dolphins and crows, according to Plotnik, of the department of experimental psychology at England's Cambridge University.