Who needs a spa day when you’ve got trunks and a garden hose?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
We know some animals use tools – like monkeys, dolphins, and a few brainy birds. But what about elephants?
Lea Urban and team at Humboldt University watched Asian elephants at the Berlin Zoo do something surprising. Without any training, they picked up water hoses to give themselves showers!
They maneuvered the hoses to reach different body parts, and used hoses of different sizes. One elephant even clamped the hose to stop water flow – like turning off a faucet!
Which is as adorable, as it is redundant… I mean, isn’t that what their trunks are for?!
Reference: Urban, L., Becker, R., Ochs, A., Sicks, F., Brecht, M., & Kaufmann, L. V. (2024). Water-hose tool use and showering behavior by Asian elephants. Current Biology, 34(23), 5602–5606.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.017