An elephant is known for its extraordinary memory. An elephant’s brain is very large. So too is its cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the region of the brain where memories are stored.
Its cerebral cortex is more developed with a greater number of folds. This gives an elephant a remarkable long-term memory.
It is able to remember the unique smells and sounds of predators. It can differentiate between people by their odours and the colours of their clothes. An elephant can easily distinguish its family members and associates from hundreds of other elephants.
During a drought, an elephant can recall detailed information— or ‘download’ important survival data from its memory— about where it once found sufficient food and water, and retrace such locations in highly dynamic environments such as a waterless savannah. This brings about the saying that “an elephant never forgets”.
Source: Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org
