“What makes Pang Pha’s banana peeling so unique is a combination of factors—skillfulness, speed, individuality, and the putatively human origin—rather than a single behavioral element.”
A recent report published in the journal Current Biology has shed light on an intriguing discovery about elephants. Despite enjoying bananas as a part of their diet, these gentle giants do not typically peel them like humans do.
However, the report highlights a fascinating exception – a special Asian elephant named Pang Pha, who has taught herself how to peel bananas while living at the Berlin Zoo. Pang Pha’s technique involves carefully breaking yellow-brown bananas before shaking out and collecting the pulp, while leaving the thick peel behind.
The report offers a unique glimpse into the intelligence and ingenuity of these magnificent animals, suggesting that they are capable of learning complex tasks through self-discovery.
According to the study authors, it is highly probable that the female elephant acquired the unusual banana peeling behavior from observing her caretakers peel bananas for her. The study’s findings, based on a single elephant, suggest that elephants possess unique cognitive and manipulative abilities. The discovery highlights the potential for these gentle giants to learn and adopt complex behaviors through observational learning.
“We discovered a very unique behavior,” explains Michael Brecht (@BrechtLab) of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin’s Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience. “What makes Pang Pha’s banana peeling so unique is a combination of factors—skillfulness, speed, individuality, and the putatively human origin—rather than a single behavioral element.”
Pang Pha, like other elephants, typically eats green or yellow bananas without peeling them. However, she avoids brown bananas entirely. Interestingly, when it comes to spotted yellow bananas that resemble the type used for banana bread, she has taught herself to peel them before consuming.
Brecht and his team, which included Lena Kaufmann (@lena_v_kaufmann) from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Andreas Ochs from the Berlin Zoological Garden, stumbled upon the discovery of Pha’s unusual banana-peeling talent after being informed by her caretakers. Initially, they were puzzled as they presented her with ripe yellow and green bananas, yet she never peeled them.
“It was only when we understood that she peels only yellow-brown bananas that our project took off,” Brecht adds.
According to the report, when presented with yellow-brown bananas, Pha exhibits a unique behavioral change. Instead of devouring all of them at once, she eats as many as possible in their entirety and saves the last one for peeling later. While it is unclear why she chooses to peel the last banana, it is noteworthy that no other elephants in the Berlin Zoo engage in this behavior. It is important to note that Pha was hand-raised by human caretakers at the zoo who had fed her peeled bananas. While they did not teach her how to peel bananas, it is possible that she learned the behavior through observation and imitation.
The researchers posit that Pha acquired the skill of banana peeling through observational learning from humans. While previous studies on African elephants have shown that they can understand human pointing gestures and distinguish between different ethnic groups of people, the researchers note that more complex manipulation behaviors, such as banana-peeling, are relatively uncommon. However, the discovery of Pha’s unique ability to peel bananas suggests that elephants possess impressive cognitive abilities and dexterity.
“Elephants have truly remarkable trunk skills and that their behavior is shaped by experience,” adds Brecht.
The researchers are intrigued by the fact that only Pha has developed the ability to peel bananas, raising the question of whether such habits are usually transmitted within elephant families. As a result, they are currently investigating other advanced trunk behaviors, including tool use.
Image Credit: Stil from video