why is it that elephants dont forget?

Question

is it due to their diet

Answer 1

Well come on, think about it, they really don't have all that much to remember do they?!?!

Answer 2

Firstly why are you under Food and Drink but elephants are most certainly not the only animals who remember. They just have got themselves a good agent who put the word out. Most of the animals I have had dealings with have a memory so be careful what you say to them!

Answer 3

I have never seen a herd of elephants recite Hamlet, or memorise a phone directory. So how do you know they don't forget. And since elephants are blessed with such longevity I would imagine they could get Alzheimer's in their old age

Answer 4

The phrase 'elephants never forget' was reasonably common in the 20th century. It had no metaphorical meaning, referring literally to elephants supposedly having an excellent memory.
Question:
Where did the phrase "An elephant never forgets" originate from?

Answer:
The origin of the phrase seems to go back to observations that elephants follow the same paths and even hand down genetic memories of directions and places grounds across generations. Each elephant clan has a certain burial place, like many human communities, and always help the dying ones get back there if they are not killed traumatically first.

The most famous example of the tenacity of memory of elephants is illustrated in the story "Elephant Walk," which was made into a movie in the 40s, or perhaps early 50s. This is the true story of a British colonial villa which was built across a traditional elephant walk in India. The elephants were confused and enraged to find their way blocked, and every year at the same time, the villa staff would have to defend the villa and deflect the herds around it so they could get from one side of the offending villa in their traditional migration.

Finally the elephants could not be dissuaded, and one year in rage they finally stormed on through the villa, destroying it and killing many of the people, restoring the traditional road.

In addition to their travel and burial patterns, it has been demonstrated in the 20th century that elephants also have a high friendship skill with humans, as well as develping lasting relationships with other elephants, and in fact do remember individuals of the human and their own species even when separated for decades.

Trunk
The proboscis, or trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip, elongated and specialized to become the elephant's most important and versatile appendage. African elephants are equipped with two fingerlike projections at the tip of their trunk, while Asians have only one. According to biologists, the elephant's trunk may have over forty thousand individual muscles in it, making it sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree. Some sources indicate that the correct number of muscles in an elephant's trunk is closer to one hundred thousand.

Most herbivores (plant eaters, like the elephant) possess teeth adapted for cutting and tearing off plant materials. However, except for the very young or infirm, elephants always use their trunks to tear up their food and then place it in their mouth. They will graze on grass or reach up into trees to grasp leaves, fruit, or entire branches. If the desired food item is too high up, the elephant will wrap its trunk around the tree or branch and shake its food loose or sometimes simply knock the tree down altogether. The trunk is also used for drinking. Elephants suck water up into the trunk (up to fifteen quarts or fourteen litres at a time) and then blow it into their mouth.
Elephants are herbivores, spending 16 hours a day collecting plant food. Their diet is at least 50% grasses, supplemented with leaves, bamboo, twigs, bark, roots, and small amounts of fruits, seeds and flowers. Because elephants only digest 40% of what they eat, they have to make up for their digestive system's lack of efficiency in volume. An adult elephant can consume (300–600 lb) of food a day. 60% of that food leaves the elephant's body undigested.

With a mass just over (11 lb), elephant brains are larger than those of any land animal, and although the largest whales have body masses twentyfold those of a typical elephant, whale brains are barely twice the mass of an elephant's. A wide variety of behaviour, including those associated with grief, art, play, use of tools, compassion and self-awareness evidence a highly intelligent species rivalled only by dolphins and primates.

The largest areas in elephant brain are those responsible for hearing, smell and movement coordination, and a large portion of the brain has to do with trunk management and sensitivity.

Increased out of any comparative proportion, the temporal lobe, responsible for processing of audio information, hearing and language, is relatively far greater than that of dolphins (which use elaborate echolocation) and humans (who use language and symbols).

Self-awareness
Mirror self recognition is a test of self awareness and cognition used in animal studies. A mirror was provided and visible marks were made on the elephant. The elephants investigated these marks, that were visible only via the mirror. The tests also included non-visible marks to rule out the possibility of their using other senses to detect these marks. This shows that elephants recognize the fact that the image in the mirror is their own self and such abilities are considered the basis for empathy, altruism and higher social interactions. This ability had earlier only been demonstrated in humans, apes and dolphins.

Answer 5

No elephants don't forget cos they have got good memories.

Answer 6

I think that this nonsense about elephants not forgetting is just a myth.

If you ask one, 'what instrument Paganini or Stevie Wonder played', they always answer 'Trumpet'.

So I think they are just guessing really.

Answer 7

Don't tell them any secrets......a bunch of us were hanging out doing jello shots one nice and I made the mistake of telling them some stupid things I did over the summer........and now my reputation is ruined!!!!!

Answer 8

Forget what?

Answer 9

Not really.
I think it's the way they were made.

Answer 10

let me ask them and i will get back to you