Elephants "Learn" to Avoid Land Mines in War-Torn Angola

In the past I have posted about elephant landmine victims on the Thai-Burma border. The article below from National Geographic shows that elephants are learning to avoide minefields... but they are not sure how, exactly.

Ian Whyte is senior researcher at South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park, which has an estimated 13,000 elephants within its boundaries

He said the animals may well be able to develop the ability to avoid mined areas. But exactly how they do it�whether it's by true learning or by an ability to detect the mines somehow�is a matter of conjecture.

"Maybe they are able to smell the mines," Whyte said. "They move about with their trunks right on the ground, and it could be that they pick up the scent in this way.

"But they are also intelligent animals which move in groups. Maybe they learn to avoid places where they see other elephants get blown up."

Read the rest of this article here.