"Given Electric Shocks and Beaten with Hooks: Shocking New Video Shows Mistreatment of Water For Elephants Star Tai." Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2013.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384426/Water-Elephants-star-electrocuted-beaten-hooks-Shocking-new-video-shows-mistreatment.html 

          Water for Elephants is a movie that came out in 2011. The movie tells of a young adult male (Robert Pattinson) who loses his parents in a car accident so jumps a train which leads to a whole new adventure in his life; a circus train. The young man (Jacob) becomes part of the circus as a veterinarian, where he also falls for a girl which happens to be the owner’s wife. The reason this movie applies to the topic of elephant captivity is because during the movie they end up bringing an elephant into their circus which happens to be The Ringling Brothers (a circus today). The owner abuses the elephant when she (Rosie) doesn’t cooperate and Jacob doesn’t agree with how he’s treating her. Not to spoil the end, but Rosie, Jacob and the owner’s wife get out of the circus and live happily. Rosie, the elephant that plays a part in the movie is actually named Tai and the sad part is that in reality she’s abused where she’s held well not on the camera set. The ADI (Animal Defenders International) released the elephant that they saw Tai being given electric shocks with hand-held stun guns and being beaten with bull hooks. It’s ironic that a movie focused on much on animal rights is actually doing the same thing behind the scenes.

Elephant Cooperation

http://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_do_animals_have_morals.html

"Frans De Waal: Moral Behavior in Animals." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.


           Frans De Waal studies the moral, empathy, cooperation, and fairness traits of animals that seem to only be traits humans have. But his studies have proved that wrong. Watching him speak on Ted Talks, he showed video of all the experiments he did; one being of the cooperation of two elephants using positive reinforcements. They had a crate with wheels that held two bowls with food in it but the crate was behind a net with two strings hanging out so that the elephants could pull the string and get the treat. Here’s the catch, they have to pull the string at the same time or it will come out and they won’t get their food. In the first experiment they did well, pulling it at the same time and receiving their treat but during the second try, the elephants were let out at different times so one had to wait for the other. The waiting elephant decided to be smart and put its foot on the string so the other elephant had to do all the work; in other words, known as free-loading. This proves that yes, elephants have the ability to synchronize and work together and also come up with alternative techniques.