Zoo elephant uses water hose to shower herself

In a remarkable display of intelligence, an Asian elephant at Berlin Zoo has stunned scientists by teaching herself how to shower using a hose, demonstrating what researchers have called “sophisticated behaviour.”

The elephant, named Mary, was filmed using her trunk to spray herself with water, methodically lifting her legs and adjusting the hose to clean herself, a skill never before observed in elephants.

The footage, recorded by researchers at Humboldt University of Berlin, also captured another elephant, Anchali, attempting to sabotage Mary’s efforts. In an unexpected twist, Anchali was seen pulling at the hose and clamping it with her trunk, potentially to disrupt Mary’s water supply.

“This behaviour is unique and shows goal-directed tool use, a trait once thought to be exclusive to humans,” said Michael Brecht, a researcher at Humboldt University. Both elephants’ use of tools—Mary with the hose and Anchali with her disruptive actions—adds to growing evidence that elephants possess more advanced cognitive abilities than previously thought.

Brecht described Mary as the “queen of showering,” noting that while elephants often spray themselves with water, the use of a hose—a complex, flexible tool—demonstrates a deeper level of understanding.

Lena Kaufmann, who filmed the interaction, pointed out that such skills may be linked to elephants' natural trunk dexterity, suggesting they might have an intuitive understanding of how to manipulate the hose.

Mary’s use of the hose is not just a display of cleanliness; it also raises questions about elephants’ ability to problem-solve and manipulate tools, potentially similar to behaviours seen in other animals like chimpanzees and dolphins.

Lena Kaufmann speculated that elephants may instinctively recognise the similarities between their trunks and the flexible hose, giving them an advantage when it comes to using it.

Meanwhile, Anchali’s interference was described as both clever and surprising. Professor Brecht noted that the attempt to stop Mary’s shower by clamping down on the hose was a deliberate action that had not been anticipated. “It was a real surprise to see Anchali’s kink-and-clamp behaviour,” he said. “It seems she was trying to stop Mary from having her shower.”

The researchers’ findings, published in Current Biology, suggest that elephants may have a playful side, possibly using trickery in their interactions with one another. Brecht even pondered whether elephants engage in such behaviours in the wild, asking, “Does Anchali think this is funny, or is she just being mean?”