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Study Finds Detours Help Older Elephants Resist Food-Seeking

By Drooid · Sep 12, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Psychologists Sydney Hope and Joshua Plotnik showed Asian elephants can inhibit food-seeking impulses.
They tested sixteen elephants aged four-sixty years at Thailand’s Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation.
Using the detour paradigm, the elephants faced a transparent box and ignored the barrier.
Rotating the box opening delayed the elephants’ search, showing slower latency.
Older elephants struggled more with the change, suggesting age-related decline and a brain-size link, published in PLOS One.

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Story summary

Psychologists Sydney Hope and Joshua Plotnik showed Asian elephants can inhibit food-seeking impulses.
They tested sixteen elephants aged four-sixty years at Thailand’s Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation.
Using the detour paradigm, the elephants faced a transparent box and ignored the barrier.
Rotating the box opening delayed the elephants’ search, showing slower latency.
Older elephants struggled more with the change, suggesting age-related decline and a brain-size link, published in PLOS One.