Eventually, the researchers realized that she would peel only bananas that were at the right level of ripeness, seeming to prefer the yellow-brown ones in particular. That is probably because those very ripe bananas are easier to slide out of their peels, Dr. Brecht said, though there are other potential explanations, too. “The other thing that we thought of is that the brown peel might taste disgusting,” he continued. The researchers also found that her behavior changed when she had to compete with other elephants for bananas. When Pang Pha ate in group settings, she downed whole bananas as quickly as she could — one every two seconds, the scientists calculated — saving only the last one for peeling.”If she has time, she clearly prefers the banana peeled, Dr. Brecht said. None of the other elephants at the zoo have been seen peeling their fruit, despite the fact that some of them have watched Pang Pha do so repeatedly. The researchers believe that her behavior may stem from her unusual childhood experiences. When she arrived at the Berlin Zoo, she was hand-raised by a dedicated keeper, who strayed from the typical practice of doling out whole, unpeeled bananas.”He thought it was stupid that they that they always eat the whole banana, and he peeled the bananas always for her,” Dr. Brecht said. “That’s where we think it started.” That early experience not only gave Pang Pha an opportunity to observe banana peeling, but might have helped her develop a preference for the taste of peeled Bananas, which the other elephants do not share, Dr. Brecht said. Still, Richard Byrne, an expert on the evolution of cognitive and social behavior at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, said that the evidence for observational learning was weak .
