Abstract

Social behaviors between animals have been widely documented in the wild and in managed care facilities. Specifically, several species have demonstrated the ability to cooperate with conspecifics in a lab or zoo setting. The current study sought to replicate a study previously conducted with Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in which pairs of elephants had to cooperatively pull on two ends of a rope in order to bring food rewards within reach. The initial study was conducted in a free contact setting, whereas the current study was conducted under a protected contact management program with ZooTampa’s herd of 6 elephants. Overall, 15 different pairings were tested on the rope-pulling cooperative task, while being released simultaneously. Trials were deemed successful if the sled was pulled to a distance where both elephants were able to claim food that was resting on the sled. Results suggest that overall, the majority of pairings quickly learned that a form of cooperation was necessary to successfully complete the task. Through analysis of 3 sessions of 10 trials, each pairing reached the criterion for p<.05. Researchers noted the individual modification of strategies, depending on the elephant, in order to most effectively complete the task. After initial trials were complete, trials were run with a staggered start time to assess the elephant’s understanding of the role of their partner. Further research in the field of comparative cognition is required, especially to gain a better understanding of cooperation in often understudied species.