The geography and content of elephant cognitive maps are revealed through comprehension of elephant symbolic communication. Trunk dexterity is more than adequate to produce simple realistic drawings. Elephants sometimes make marks in the dirt while standing in groups and vocalizing. Elephant brains are several times larger than human brains, with many times the cortical area available for higher mental function. Elephants have complex vocal communicaton, behave altruistically toward kin group members and routinely solve difficult problems involving child care, rescue , defense, male combat, matriarchal social relations, finding food and water, location of estrous females etc.
Cognition often expresses clearly in planned behavior.
Elephants or humans in a problem situation require symbolic knowledge of the environment. The brain must encode and decode environmental information to motivate insightful behavior. In it's simplest definition, a cognitive map is a mental representation of goals and paths that allows insightful travel. For example, a short-cut, rather than a familiar route. There are several kinds of evidence that elephants , like humans, have the need for and use cognitive maps.