Elephants know when they need a helping trunk in a cooperative task
Elephants know when they need a helping trunk in a cooperative task
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1101765108
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发表时间：
2011-03-22
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
de Waal, Frans B. M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Plotnik, Joshua M.;Lair, Richard;de Waal, Frans B. M.
大象被广泛认为是认知最先进的动物之一，尽管缺乏系统的证据。这种知识的空白主要是由于将最大的陆地动物提交给行为实验的危险和困难。为了改变这种情况，20世纪30年代，一种通常在猴子和猿身上进行测试的经典合作范式被修改，使用了最初为黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）设计的程序来测量亚洲象（Elephas maximus）的反应。这种范式探索了为实现共同目标而进行协调的认知基础。动物们知道或学到了什么关于合作的好处？他们能否了解伙伴在合作中的作用的关键要素？虽然自然界的观察表明非人类灵长类动物也有这种理解，但实验结果好坏参半，而且关于非灵长类动物的证据很少。在这里，我们展示了大象可以学会与合作伙伴协调，需要两个人同时拉动同一根绳子的两端以获得奖励。大象不仅一起行动，而且如果伙伴的到来被推迟，它们会抑制拉动反应长达45秒。他们还明白，如果伴侣无法接触到绳子，那么拉扯就没有意义。这种结果被解释为表明了对合作的理解。通过趋同进化，大象可能已经达到了与黑猩猩相当的合作技能水平。
Elephants are widely assumed to be among the most cognitively advanced animals, even though systematic evidence is lacking. This void in knowledge is mainly due to the danger and difficulty of submitting the largest land animal to behavioral experiments. In an attempt to change this situation, a classical 1930s cooperation paradigm commonly tested on monkeys and apes was modified by using a procedure originally designed for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to measure the reactions of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). This paradigm explores the cognition underlying coordination toward a shared goal. What do animals know or learn about the benefits of cooperation? Can they learn critical elements of a partner's role in cooperation? Whereas observations in nature suggest such understanding in nonhuman primates, experimental results have been mixed, and little evidence exists with regards to nonprimates. Here, we show that elephants can learn to coordinate with a partner in a task requiring two individuals to simultaneously pull two ends of the same rope to obtain a reward. Not only did the elephants act together, they inhibited the pulling response for up to 45 s if the arrival of a partner was delayed. They also grasped that there was no point to pulling if the partner lacked access to the rope. Such results have been interpreted as demonstrating an understanding of cooperation. Through convergent evolution, elephants may have reached a cooperative skill level on a par with that of chimpanzees.