Asian elephants can abandon a familiar way of reaching food when it stops working, as per a new study conducted in Thailand.
asserted
it → abandon → Thailand
In tests with 16 animals, researchers found evidence of inhibitory control, the ability to hold back an unhelpful response and switch to a successful one in seconds.
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researchers → find → seconds
The research, published in PLOS One on September 9, 2026, offered a closer look at how elephants adjust to changing circumstances.
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elephants → publish → circumstances
The most revealing moment arrived when scientists moved the route to a fruit, forcing the animals to overcome their habit, one they had just learned.
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they → arrive → habit
Sydney Hope of Hunter College and colleagues tested Asian elephants at Thailand's National Elephant Institute.
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Hope → test → Institute
They set up a box with a practical problem for an animal with a long, flexible trunk, with the box having a fruit in front of them, but a barrier blocking the direct approach.
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box → set → approach
First, the elephants learned to reach around an opaque box and put their trunks through its opening to retrieve the fruit reward.
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elephants → learn → reward
Then, researchers substituted a transparent box with small holes in the front, allowing the animals to see and smell the reward but with an opening elsewhere.
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animals → substitute → opening
The elephants continued reaching around the barrier, showing that they could successfully shift to the indirect approach even with the food visible in front of them, and not be distracted by the sight of it.
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they → continue → it
Next, the team rotated the box so that the opening was in a different position.
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opening → rotate → position
Initially, the elephants returned to the place that had previously provided access, even though reaching there did not work.
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reaching → return → access
Then, they adjusted and found the new entrance.
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they → adjust → entrance
The study's measurements captured the disruption.
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measurements → capture → disruption
After a rotation in the opening, the average time from first touching to getting their trunk in the opening rose from about 2.2 seconds to 8.2 seconds.
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time → touch → seconds
Also, performance improved over repeated attempts due to the opening being in the same position.
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opening → improve → position
Older elephants took longer time
Age added another layer to the experiment and the findings.
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elephants → take → experiment
Older elephants were slower to adapt when the opening was rotated, suggesting that suppressing a previously successful response may become difficult later in life.
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suppressing → adapt → life
The participants ranged from 4 to 60 years old, but the small sample leaned toward younger animals.
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sample → range → animals
A wider spread of ages would help researchers determine how consistently the pattern appears.
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pattern → help → ages
For now, the authors treat cognitive decline as a possible explanation requiring further study.
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authors → treat → study
The distinction matters because a slower response in one task says little about an animal’s full range of abilities.
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response → matter → abilities
Researchers still need to establish how performance in this particular situation relates to the other demands elephants face
The transparent box needs a careful reading
The authors caution that seeing and smelling the fruit may never have triggered a strong impulse to reach straight ahead, so the animals could simply have continued a practised movement.
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animals → need → movement
The rotation trials supplied the clearer evidence because they exposed an initial mistake followed by adjustment.
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they → supply → adjustment
That sequence supports the researchers’ interpretation of inhibitory control, while leaving open questions about how broadly the ability operates in everyday elephant life.
“This ability may be important for elephants’ social interactions or for other aspects of cognition, such as problem-solving,” Hope said in a CUNY statement.
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Hope → support → statement
Those possible connections give researchers something to investigate next, including whether this kind of behavioural flexibility helps elephants coordinate with companions or tackle unfamiliar challenges.
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elephants → give → challenges
What this could mean for conservation
The experiment extends beyond just a test.
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experiment → mean → test
Asian elephants encounter farms and settlements across landscapes shared with people, and crop damage can put both communities and animals at risk.
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damage → encounter → risk
Understanding how elephants respond to obstacles could help researchers develop better ways to reduce those encounters.
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researchers → understand → encounters
The team proposed that studying how elephants learn routes around barriers could inform strategies for human-elephant coexistence.
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elephants → propose → coexistence
Testing those ideas in the field would be essential before claiming that a particular approach protects crops or prevents conflict.
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approach → test → conflict
The Aporia
