The Wisdom of Elephants May Extend to Medicines, New Study Shows

Near Kenya’s Mount Elgon, a baby elephant suffers from an upset stomach. It trumpets for aid. Wisely, its mother gathers the plants it will need to make the right medicine. 

Yes, medicine.

Elephants are known as one of the smartest non-human species on Earth. And now a new study suggests they may possess knowledge of how to use plants as medicine. A research team spoke with eight local experts from Kenya’s Sabaot Indigenous people. They live and work closely with Mount Elgon’s elephants.   

In one case, they watched a mother elephant gathering angurweet. It's a plant known to help soothe tummy troubles. She removed the leaves and combined it with the roots of a few other plants. She chewed the mixture until smooth. Then she fed it to her baby. In total, the team noted elephants using 35 plant species as potential medicines. 

Other accounts suggest the elephants have knowledge of the benefits of certain types of soils. Still, the research team says more work must be done to prove that elephants select plants for their health effects. Fabien Schultz told the BBC the research team wants to follow the elephants to learn if they choose certain plants as medicines. He added they need to figure out "whether those plants have relevant biological activity." Schultz is the lead author of the study. He works at Germany’s Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine. 

Even in its early stages, the research presents a clear reason to preserve the elephants’ habitat, experts say. What helps elephants may also be helpful to humans.

"It's a win-win for us to protect these forests and keep those natural pharmacies around,” study co-author Elodie Freymann told the BBC. Down the line, it may lead to breakthroughs that save human lives, she noted.   

Reflect: If you could learn one skill from an animal, what would it be and why?

Gif of elephants from Giphy.