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Scientists recently discovered a new elephant behavior that is simply bananas. An Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at the Berlin Zoo can use her trunk to peel bananas before eating them, a new study reveals. 

She wasn’t trained to do this; instead, researchers believe she picked up the skill by watching zookeepers peel bananas for her. 

An incredible video shows the elephant, named Pang Pha, first grasp the banana with the end of her trunk. Then, she twists her trunk around on itself, breaks the banana by ripping off the stem end, and throws the rest on the ground. She then picks up the banana again, this time by pinching the frayed peel with her trunk, and uses the banana’s weight to methodically peel the fruit. This might not be exactly the way keepers peel bananas, but it’s a remarkable feat for a thumbless animal. 

Related: Do elephants really “never forget”?

Study first author Lena Kaufmann (opens in new tab) , a doctoral student at Humboldt University of Berlin, began working with the elephant to study how the animals sense touch sensations with their trunks. Soon after, the zookeepers began to mention other intriguing behaviors they had spotted, like banana peeling. Kaufman didn’t believe it at first. To see for herself, Kaufmann began to feed Pang Pha bananas to see what would happen.

“I started bringing bananas for her,” Kaufmann told Live Science. “And I didn’t see anything. She just took the banana and ate it. So I started doubting it.” 

But Kaufmann was bringing green bananas, fresh from the supermarket, and Pang Pha would simply swallow them whole. When Kaufmann offered Pang Pha a more ripe banana, one with little brown spots on the peel, the elephant grasped the banana and carefully opened it to get at the pulp inside. 

It turned out that Pang Pha has preferences. She will eat green bananas whole when offered them, but will take time to peel sweeter, more ripe bananas. She does not, however, like extremely ripe bananas. 

“At first, I gave her a [brown banana] and she basically dropped it and left it on the floor,” said Kaufmann. “After that, I gave her a second one, and immediately she threw it at me.”

Through repeated experimentation, Kaufmann learned that Pang Pha will occasionally peel and eat an overripe banana, but she clearly doesn’t seem to enjoy them. RELATED STORIES—Asian elephant mom carries dead calf for weeks, new eye-opening video reveals

—350 elephants killed by ‘a combination of neurotoxins’ in water, Botswana government says

—After rampant ivory poaching, some African elephants lost their tusks — Why?

Kaufmann next studied how and when she peels bananas in social situations, where she is being fed bananas as a part of a group. In these cases the vast majority of Pang Pha’s bananas were eaten without being peeled. That is, until she was on her last banana, which she would take her time to peel 60% of the time. 

Kaufmann believes that Pang Pha’s reluctance to peel bananas during group feeding is a sign that she optimized the behavior for her benefit. When alone, Pang Pha is more likely to carefully peel each banana, but when eating communally, she has to eat very quickly, or the other elephants might leave her with no bananas. In that case, she swallows them whole, but chooses to savor the last banana.

Pang Pha’s remarkable feat was described April 10 in the journal Current Biology (opens in new tab) .

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Black Sabbath, Elton John and Rod Stewart among music giants paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne

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Black Sabbath, Elton John and Rod Stewart among music giants paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath have paid tribute to their former frontman Ozzy Osbourne after the megastar died at the age of 76.

Osbourne’s death on Tuesday morning was announced in a statement, which said he died surrounded by his family.

His death came just weeks after he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates – Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward – and performed a huge farewell concert for fans.

The band paid tribute to him on Instagram by sharing an image of Osbourne on stage at the farewell gig in Birmingham and writing “Ozzy Forever”.

Ozzy Osbourne’s life in pictures

Iommi, the band’s lead guitarist, said he was in disbelief at the news.

“It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.”

More on Ozzy Osbourne

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Watch: Ozzy’s last concert

Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist and primary lyricist, thanked Osbourne for “all those years – we had some great fun”.

He said: “Four kids from Aston – who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”

Ozzy Osbourne salutes the crowd with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP
Image:
Osbourne with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP

Sir Elton John described Osbourne as his “dear friend” and a “huge trailblazer” who “secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods”.

“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” the singer wrote on Instagram.

Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones, wrote: “I am so very sad to hear of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham.”

Born John Michael Osbourne on 3 December 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he became known as the godfather of heavy metal.

The self-styled Prince of Darkness pioneered the music genre with Black Sabbath before going on to have huge success in his own right.

He was famous for hits including Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Crazy Train and Changes, both with the band and as a solo star.

Legendary American heavy metal band Metallica shared an image of them with Osbourne from 1986 along with an emoji of a broken heart.

Posting on Instagram, Sir Rod Stewart said: “Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there – later rather than sooner.”

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May said he was “grateful I was able to have a few quiet words” with Osbourne after his farewell show at Villa Park three weeks ago.

He said the world will miss the singer’s “unique presence and fearless talent”.

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Business

Goldman Sachs boss sounds warning to Reeves on tax and regulation

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Goldman Sachs boss sounds warning to Reeves on tax and regulation

London and the UK’s leading status in the global financial system is “fragile”, the boss of Goldman Sachs has warned, as the government grapples with a tough economy.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with the prime minister, David Solomon – chairman and chief executive of the huge US investment bank – told Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost’s The Master Investor Podcast of several concerns related to tax and regulation.

He urged the government not to push people and business away through poor policy that would damage its primary aim of securing improved economic growth, arguing that European rivals were currently proving more attractive.

Money latest: Mortgage shake-up to save ‘time and money’

He said: “The financial industry is still driven by talent and capital formation. And those things are much more mobile than they were 25 years ago.

“London continues to be an important financial centre. But because of Brexit, because of the way the world’s evolving, the talent that was more centred here is more mobile.

“We as a firm have many more people on the continent. Policy matters, incentives matter.

More on Uk Economy

“I’m encouraged by some of what the current government is talking about in terms of supporting business and trying to support a more growth oriented agenda.

“But if you don’t set a policy that keeps talent here, that encourages capital formation here, I think over time you risk that.”

He had a stark warning about the recent reversal of the “Non Dom” tax policy, which occurred across both the prior Conservative government and the current Labour government, which has played a part in some senior Goldman partners relocating away from London.

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Chancellor will not be drawn on wealth tax

Richard Gnodde, one of the bank’s vice-chairs, left for Milan earlier this year.

“Incentives matter if you create tax policy or incentives that push people away, you harm your economy,” Mr Solomon continued.

“If you go back, you know, ten years ago, I think we probably had 80 people in Paris. You know, we have 400 people in Paris now… And so in Goldman Sachs today, if you’re in Europe, you can live in London, you can live in Paris, you can live in Germany, in Frankfurt or Munich, you can live in Italy, you can live in Switzerland.

“And we’ve got, you know, real offices. You just have to recognise talent is more mobile.”

Goldman is understood to have about 6,000 employees in the UK.

Rachel Reeves is currently seeking ways to fill a black hole in the public finances and has refused to rule out wealth taxes at the next budget.

Mr Solomon expressed sympathy for her as her tears in parliament earlier this month led to speculation about the pressure of the job.

“I have sympathy, I have empathy not just for the chancellor, but for anyone who’s serving in one of these governments,” he said, referring to the turbulent political landscape globally.

Commenting on the chancellor’s Mansion House speech last week, he added: “The chancellor spoke here about regulation, she’s talking about regulation not just for safety and soundness, but also for growth.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Takeaways from chancellor’s Mansion House speech

“And now we have to see the action steps that actually follow through and encourage that.”

One area he was particularly keen to see follow through from her Mansion House speech was ringfencing – the post financial crisis regulation that requires banks to separate their retail activities from their investment banking activities.

“It’s a place where the UK is an outlier, and by being an outlier, it prevents capital formation and growth.

“What’s the justification for being an outlier? Why is this so difficult to change? It’s hard to make a substantive policy argument that this is like a great policy for the UK. So why is it so hard to change?”

The Master Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost is available across multiple podcast platforms

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Politics

Goldman Sachs boss sounds warning to Reeves on tax and regulation

Published

on

By

Goldman Sachs boss sounds warning to Reeves on tax and regulation

London and the UK’s leading status in the global financial system is “fragile”, the boss of Goldman Sachs has warned, as the government grapples with a tough economy.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with the prime minister, David Solomon – chairman and chief executive of the huge US investment bank – told Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost’s The Master Investor Podcast of several concerns related to tax and regulation.

He urged the government not to push people and business away through poor policy that would damage its primary aim of securing improved economic growth, arguing that European rivals were currently proving more attractive.

Money latest: Mortgage shake-up to save ‘time and money’

He said: “The financial industry is still driven by talent and capital formation. And those things are much more mobile than they were 25 years ago.

“London continues to be an important financial centre. But because of Brexit, because of the way the world’s evolving, the talent that was more centred here is more mobile.

“We as a firm have many more people on the continent. Policy matters, incentives matter.

More on Uk Economy

“I’m encouraged by some of what the current government is talking about in terms of supporting business and trying to support a more growth oriented agenda.

“But if you don’t set a policy that keeps talent here, that encourages capital formation here, I think over time you risk that.”

He had a stark warning about the recent reversal of the “Non Dom” tax policy, which occurred across both the prior Conservative government and the current Labour government, which has played a part in some senior Goldman partners relocating away from London.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Chancellor will not be drawn on wealth tax

Richard Gnodde, one of the bank’s vice-chairs, left for Milan earlier this year.

“Incentives matter if you create tax policy or incentives that push people away, you harm your economy,” Mr Solomon continued.

“If you go back, you know, ten years ago, I think we probably had 80 people in Paris. You know, we have 400 people in Paris now… And so in Goldman Sachs today, if you’re in Europe, you can live in London, you can live in Paris, you can live in Germany, in Frankfurt or Munich, you can live in Italy, you can live in Switzerland.

“And we’ve got, you know, real offices. You just have to recognise talent is more mobile.”

Goldman is understood to have about 6,000 employees in the UK.

Rachel Reeves is currently seeking ways to fill a black hole in the public finances and has refused to rule out wealth taxes at the next budget.

Mr Solomon expressed sympathy for her as her tears in parliament earlier this month led to speculation about the pressure of the job.

“I have sympathy, I have empathy not just for the chancellor, but for anyone who’s serving in one of these governments,” he said, referring to the turbulent political landscape globally.

Commenting on the chancellor’s Mansion House speech last week, he added: “The chancellor spoke here about regulation, she’s talking about regulation not just for safety and soundness, but also for growth.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Takeaways from chancellor’s Mansion House speech

“And now we have to see the action steps that actually follow through and encourage that.”

One area he was particularly keen to see follow through from her Mansion House speech was ringfencing – the post financial crisis regulation that requires banks to separate their retail activities from their investment banking activities.

“It’s a place where the UK is an outlier, and by being an outlier, it prevents capital formation and growth.

“What’s the justification for being an outlier? Why is this so difficult to change? It’s hard to make a substantive policy argument that this is like a great policy for the UK. So why is it so hard to change?”

The Master Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost is available across multiple podcast platforms

Continue Reading

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