Study: Elephants Understand Pointing

Elephants totally get the point, a rarity in the animal kingdom, according to a new study published this month in the journal Current Biology. In the experiment, researchers secretly loaded buckets with fruit, then silently extended a finger to show African elephants where the food could be found. They observed that elephants were able to read the visual cue of pointing, picking the right bucket two thirds of the time—a slightly better rate than a 1-year-old human. The scientists say pointing could be a social thing, since elephants live in packs that require cooperation and communication. Next the researchers will study whether elephants use their own trunks to actually point at stuff. Stay tuned.