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 timesthe cortical area available for higher mental function. Elephants have complexvocal communicaton, behave altruistically toward kin group members androutinely solve difficult problems involving child care, rescue , defense, malecombat, matriarchal social relations, finding food and water, location of estrousfemales etc.
Cognition often expresses clearly in planned behavior.
Elephants or humansin 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 goalsand paths that allows insightful travel. For example, a short-cut, rather than afamiliar route. There are several kinds of evidence that elephants , likehumans, have the need for and use cognitive maps.