They say that an elephant never forgets. Are they correct? How do we measure an elephant’s memory? Exactly how good is this memory? Is it a photographic memory? Would an elephant that had flipped through a copy of War and Peace ten years ago still carry the text in its head, even if it had no clue what any of it meant?
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Elephants do seem to have better than average memories for animals – they can recognize trainers after years of not seeing them, and remember tricks they hadn’t done in years.
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The phrase is not meant to be taken literally. It is a metaphor.