Elephantine Intelligence - The Nature Institute

But what is specifically elephantine about the elephant’s brain? Three areas of the brain are noticeably enlarged (absolutely and relatively): the olfactory lobe, the cerebellum, and the temporal lobe of the cerebrum (see Figure 3). Enlargement of part of the brain usually means that there are more neurons in that part of the brain. These neurons are connected to other parts of the brain and to the rest of the body via nerve fibers. The enlargement of the olfactory lobe is clearly connected to the fine innervation of the sense of smell in the trunk. The cerebellum has been found to be related to muscle coordination in other, better researched mammals. Since the nerve pathways in the elephant are not that well known, Haug can only make the clearly reasonable suggestion that the cerebellum’s high degree of development is related to the highly coordinated trunk movements. As the focus of so many of its activities, it is not surprising that the elephant’s intelligence-imbued trunk is mirrored in the enlargement of parts of the brain connected to the trunk.

Why the temporal lobes are so large (proportionately larger than in any other mammal), remains a riddle. The temporal lobes are generally related to hearing in mammals (and speech in the human being), so it seems reasonable to conjecture that the elephant’s ability to distinguish and communicate through a variety of sounds (including infra-sound) may well be connected to the differentiation of the temporal lobes.

Haug’s study led him to be skeptical about any claims that correlate intelligence and the brain too closely:

From a qualitative point of view, the human being does not possess — compared to elephants and dolphins — a particularly high grade of cerebral differentiation that would provide the morphological basis for such a great difference in intelligence as is actually present.... The question must be asked, whether brain differentiation must necessarily be equated with human productive intelligence” (5, p. 56).

There is a strong tendency in our times to want to localize intelligence — and other capacities — in the brain. It’s a very un-organismic way of viewing that leads us to seek for a “command center” in the brain. Intelligence resides just as little (or just as much) in the brain as it resides in the elephant’s trunk. It would be just as correct (or incorrect) to say that the elephant has its center of intelligence in the trunk as it would be to say that it’s in the brain. If the elephant’s trunk becomes lame, some of its intelligent behavior will be missing, just as when part of its brain is dysfunctional. In either case it could compensate for such injuries to a certain degree by engaging other body and brain parts. Intelligence resides everywhere and nowhere. Perhaps it’s best to say we discover it in the intelligent activity itself, which is carried out and made possible by the whole animal. And in the elephant this whole is most vividly embodied in the use of the trunk.

References

1. Williams, J. H. (1950). Elephant Bill. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company.

2. Poole, J. (1996). Coming of Age with Elephants. New York: Hyperion.

3. Shoshani, J. (ed.) (1992). Elephants. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.

4. Sukumar, R. (1994) Elephant Days and Nights. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

5. Haug, H. (1970). Der Makroskopische Aufbau des Grosshirns. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

6. Flindt, R. (1986). Biologie in Zahlen. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag

(Drawings by R.W. “Mike” Carroll, from Elephant Life by Irven O. Buss. Copyright 1990 Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa 50010; reprinted with permission.)