Smart elephants can look before they leap

Like humans, elephants are famously social creatures. But unlike teenage humans, Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) can think before they act.Scientists in Thailand discovered this after 16 Asian elephants at the country’s National Elephant Institute successfully participated in a detour test. In this sort of challenge, the animal has to resist an obvious but ineffective strategy (an impulse) to get a treat and follow an effective but indirect alternative—an ability called inhibitory