It's a common saying that elephants never forget, but these magnificent animals are more than giant hardworking drudge.
Unlike many proverds, the one about elephant memory is significantly accurate.
Elephants know every member in their herd, able to recognize as many as 30 companions by sight or smell.
Looking inside their heads, we can see why.The elephant boasts the largest brain of any land mammal, as well as an impressive encephalization quotient.
This is the size of the brain relative to what we'd expect for animal's body size, and the elephant's EQ is nearly as high as a chimpanzee's.
And despite the distant relation, convergent evolution has made it remarkably similar to the human brain ,with as many neurons and synapses and a highly developed hippocampus and celebral cortex.
It's the hippocampus strongly associated with emotion that aids recollection by encoding important experiences into long-term memories.
magnificent 雄壮的,了不起的
proverb 谚语
drudge 埋头苦干的劳动者
mammal 哺乳动物
encephalization quotient 脑化指数
relative to 相对的
distant relation 亲缘关系疏远
convergent evolution 趋同演化
neuron 神经元
synapse 突触
hippocampus 海马
cerebral cortex 大脑皮层
recollection 回忆
