Global News - October 2007

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Elephants 'can recognise dangerous humans'

Fri 19 October 2007 14:00 UK — Africa,Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos

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Elephants in Africa are able to tell if humans are friends or enemies by their scent and the colour of their clothing, new research has suggested.

A team from St Andrews University in Scotland found that elephants were able to recognise dangerous groups of humans and avoid them.

The results of the study are published in the journal by Current Biology.

According to the findings, elephants in Africa reacted with fear when they detected the smell of clothes previously worn by Maasai tribesmen.

Traditionally, elephants and the Maasai have come into conflict over land. Furthermore, Maasai men demonstrate their virility by spearing the creatures.

As a result, the elephants were also found to react aggressively when presented with red garments - the colour of most Maasai clothing.

The study also found that the creatures reacted less aggressively when shown clothing worn by the Kamba people - an agricultural tribe which has not had difficulties with elephants.

"While elephants can undoubtedly be dangerous when they come into conflict with humans, our data show that, given the opportunity, they would far rather run away, even before they encounter the humans in person," explained Professor Richard Byrne.

"We see this experiment as just a start to investigating precisely how elephants see the world, and it may be that their abilities will turn out to equal or exceed those of our closer relatives, the monkeys and apes."

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