A Lawsuit Over Elephant Rights Has Sparked Conversations About Animal Intelligence

It's hard for humans to measure the true depth of an animal's intelligence. However, we know some creatures are smart based on their behavior. Dogs, dolphins, and even the ocean-dwelling octopus all fall into this category because of what we've seen them do in the wild or how they've interacted with humans and other animals for centuries.

Scientists believe another animal should be added to that list: the elephant. Testing has uncovered that these massive animals may have more going on inside their brains than humans ever considered. In fact, elephant intelligence and personhood recently came up in a legal battle against a zoo in Colorado.

So, just how smart are elephants? Keep reading to find out what the experts have to say.

Elephants have shown researchers just how smart they are over the years in many ways, according to Live Science, including by proving that they're capable of recognizing their reflections — and, more importantly, differentiating their reflection from the reflections of other similar elephants— which researchers say is indicative of a higher level of intellect.

According to researchers, those smarts go just beyond the basics, and it may even prove that elephants can show complex emotions like empathy and understand certain social norms.

They uncovered this in small part due to an experiment involving 12 Asian elephants in Lampang, Thailand. Live Science says that scientists at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center had the elephants working to gain access to a bucket of corn.

The animals figured out how to solve a somewhat complex rope puzzle to make the corn fall within reach and work together, proving they were capable of way more than experts had previously thought.

"This is the first study of elephant social behavior in a controlled setting," researcher Joshua Plotnik told Live Science. "As far as I know, neither dogs nor dolphins have been tested on this task, although there are some interesting results on hyenas, which seem to show some understanding of the need for partners in cooperation."

The 2011 study raised many questions for researchers and animal lovers and prompted larger questions about an elephant's place in the human world.

Continued knowledge about elephant intelligence is especially helpful to animal activist groups advocating for these majestic creatures. Elephants held captive in zoo settings or otherwise exploited by humans cannot articulate the full weight of the suffering they experience — for now.

The Nonhuman Rights Project filed a lawsuit against Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in May 2024, trying to gain "personhood" for the zoo's captive elephants. 

CBS News reports that the animal rights group was hoping that the elephants would be granted some of the same rights that humans are, which would prohibit them from being held against their will in their zoo enclosures.

Unfortunately for the Cheyenne elephants, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against their lawsuit in January 2025, voting unanimously against the idea that the laws that protect humans could be applied to animals as well.

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's win is especially distressing after learning just how smart elephants — and so many other animals — are. Hopefully, scientists will continue to research the intelligence of these creatures to further illuminate the abject cruelty we're putting them through when we force them to live in such tiny enclosures instead of the wild where they belong.