Elephants are Cleverer than Humans!

Almost all of us like elephants. But do you know that they are cleverer than humans? As strange as it may sound, it is so, and here is why
An elephant's brain weighs about 11 pounds, some 3 times bigger than that of humans - none of other land animals have such a brain, including any primates and such giants like rhinos and hippos - and more importantly, an elephant can creatively (with purpose) use objects that it has never seen before - something that the man cannot do. 

An elephant's brain weighs about 11 pounds, some 3 times bigger than that of humans - none of other land animals have such a brain, including any primates and such giants like rhinos and hippos - and more importantly, an elephant can creatively (with purpose) use objects that it has never seen before - something that the man cannot do.

An example is described in ancient Roman documents. An elephant, recently captured in the wild and brought to Rome, was fighting with a rhino, and suddenly he saw a brush with sharp metallic rods that was lying around. The elephant immediately picked it up and, with the rods, pricked out the rhino's eyes. After that, the elephant trampled the blind and disoriented rival.

Nobody taught this elephant how to use knives or other objects with acute angles, and he'd never seen such objects in his life, having been captured in the wild. How did he understand how to use, not just a knife, but a brush with angles? Would an adult savage, who'd never seen a knife, guess how to use it for fight - not speaking of brushes?

Another example from ancient Roman documents: An elephant was punished for not following all of his trainer's orders. The following night this elephant was observed voluntarily repeating the exercises to improve his performance skills.

You may ask, if elephants possess such intelligence, why didn't they create their own civilization?

Because of their incredible strength, which allows them to vanquish, without artificial weapons, almost any enemy except a man armed with fire arms- and because they lack hands. Elephants have a strong and flexible trunk, but it is like having one hand instead of two. What could humans do if all of them would have just one hand instead of two?

Another question that you might ask: But when humans began mass killing elephants several decades ago, why did such intelligent elephants not begin creating weapons for self-protection?

Because humans required several hundred thousand years to learn to create weapons (from stone axes to today's cruise missiles), and elephants, having just met such a dangerous enemy like human hunters, can't just begin creating firearms over two hundred years. If X is twice as clever as Y, and Y created Z in 200,000 years, this doesn't mean that X will create Z in two hundred years. Probably in 50,000 to 100,000 years.

Perhaps, if humans could learn the elephants' language, i.e., the method they use for communication, then they could borrow many interesting ideas from these giant creatures.

By Der Voron, author of the book "Starcraft" (http://starcraft-version1.tripod.com/).