She showed adaptability, switching to her trunk if presented with a heavier hose, indicating her keen awareness of the tools’ limitations and strengths.

She typically uses her trunk to grasp the hose behind its tip to use it as a stiff shower head. In order to get to her back, she uses a more lasso-like strategy.

Now, an Asian elephant named Mary, who lives at the Berlin Zoo, has developed a more advanced technique, using a large hose to give herself a shower.

Anchali the elephant was caught using her trunk to try and cut off the water, clamping the hose and putting pressure on the pipe in an attempt to stop her pal from washing.

An elephant can blow out water harder and faster to reach areas they can't actually reach with the trunk. Putting the hose closer only means they wanted to reach and area the hose could reach.

Elephant turns a hose into a sophisticated showering tool Date: November 8, 2024 Source: Cell Press Summary: Tool use isn't unique to humans. Chimpanzees use sticks as tools. Dolphins, crows, and ...

An Asian elephant has been not-so-secretly filmed showering with a water hose at a zoo in Germany, in what scientists described as a “sophisticated behaviour” that shows “remarkable skill”.

When given the thickest hose, Mary chose to spend more time showering with just her trunk and when given the smallest, she spent the most time not showering at all.

Not only does Mary the Asian elephant prefer to shower herself, but she's really good at it. So good, in fact, that her dexterous bath-time ritual is the subject of a new study about animal tool use.

Mary the elephant shows off her hose-showering skills. Credit: Urban et al./Current Biology An Asian elephant named Mary living at the Berlin Zoo surprised researchers by figuring out how to use a ...

When presented with a larger and heavier hose, Mary used her trunk to wash instead of the bulkier and less useful hose.