Elephants and humans are akin. On WORLD ELEPHANT DAY, learn about our likenesses and how we can help each other.
At first glance, elephants and humans look as different as any two creatures could. But under their thick, wrinkly skin, elephants share several very important characteristics with humans.
One major shared trait is memory. And this has much to do with the size of their temporal lobes — the part of the brain that processes memory — which is actually larger and denser in elephants. This is what allows elephants to recognize every member of their herd, distinguish cues and danger signals, and find reliable water sources, even decades after last visiting them.
