It’s often said that elephants never forget, and new research now supports this idea, showing that elephants can remember their zookeepers even after many years apart.
While elephants are known to have excellent memories, recalling waterholes or recognizing fellow elephants they haven’t seen in decades, scientists have now found that their memory may also extend to humans.
A study led by Martin Kränzlin, under the supervision of Professor Christine Böhmer at Kiel University, provides the first solid evidence that elephants can recognize the scent of their former keepers.
The research, published in the journal Zoo Biology, was conducted with two female elephants, Bibi and Panya, who were moved from the Berlin Zoo to Serengeti Park in Lower Saxony, Germany, 13 years ago.
The experiment involved three former zookeepers from Berlin. Each zookeeper wore a T-shirt for eight hours, which was later used as a scent sample.
The researchers also recorded their voices and took portrait photos.
These stimuli were then presented to the elephants on racks outside their enclosure. On one rack, the scent or image of a former zookeeper was displayed, and on the other, the scent or image of a person the elephants didn’t know.
The elephants couldn’t touch the racks but tried to reach them with their trunks to get a closer look or sniff. Researchers filmed the behavior of the elephants and analyzed how often and for how long they reached towards the stimuli.
The results showed that Bibi and Panya were more interested in the T-shirts worn by their former keepers, showing a stronger reaction to familiar scents.
Interestingly, the elephants didn’t show a similar response to the photos or recorded voices, likely because their sense of smell is much sharper than their sight or hearing.
“Our findings clearly indicate that elephants can remember the scent of their former keepers even years later,” said Professor Böhmer. “However, more studies are needed with a larger number of elephants to confirm these results.”
This discovery is important for zoos, as it suggests that a stable relationship with their human caregivers can have a positive impact on the well-being of elephants.
If elephants remember their keepers for such a long time, it shows how significant these bonds are for them.
