These Elephants Will Never Forget You

Elephants have amazing memory

Maya Hayden
3 min readNov 25, 2023

Elephants have long been famous for their incredible memory, and it turns out, this is not just a myth. Elephants can remember each member of their herd, recognizing up to 30 different elephants by sight or smell. This remarkable memory helps them a lot when they migrate or meet other elephants that might not be friendly. They also have a keen ability to remember specific signs that warn them of danger. Even after many years, they can recall important places they visited in the past.

But there’s more to their memory than just survival skills. Elephants remember not just their fellow herd members, but also other animals and humans who have made a strong impression on them. There’s a touching story about two circus elephants that performed together briefly and then reunited joyfully after 23 years apart. This shows that elephants remember friends. They even recognize humans they’ve bonded with after many years.

Photo by Nam Anh on Unsplash

The Elephant Brain

The elephant’s brain is not just big; it’s one of the most impressive brains in the animal kingdom. It’s the largest brain of any land animal, and its size is just the start. Elephants have a high encephalization quotient (EQ), which means their brains are larger than what we’d expect for their body size. Their EQ is…

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