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The impact of war on local wildlife can be devastating, the effects of which are often felt well beyond the terminus of the initial threat. In areas where wildlife experiences unrestricted movement through previously affected zones, residual, unexploded landmines present a significant and potentially lethal problem. Anecdotal reports of African elephants ( Loxodonta africana ), in a once war-torn Angola, avoiding minefields together with telemetry data suggest that the species may be able to detect concealed landmines using olfaction. Before any in-field experiments can be conducted, an elephant's olfactory capacity for the detection of the most commonly used component in landmines, trinitrotoluene (TNT), needed to be established. Using three African elephants under controlled conditions, we used operant conditioning to test whether elephants are able to detect and reliably indicate the presence of TNT using olfaction. Elephants detected and indicated TNT using olfaction at levels greater than chance, with high sensitivity and selectivity, even when in the presence of highly volatile distractor odors. Additionally, the sensitivity of detection surpasses that of TNT-detection dogs working under similar conditions, suggesting that the potential application of African elephants within the biosensor-field should not be underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents data on the success rate of African elephants in human scent matching to sample performance. Working with equipment and protocols similar to those used in the training of forensic canine units in Europe, scent samples were collected on cotton squares from twenty-six humans of differing ethnic groups, sexes and ages, and stored in glass jars. Three African elephants were trained to match human body scent to the corresponding sample. In total, four hundred and seventy trials, during which the elephant handlers were blind to the experiment details, were conducted. Each trial consisted of one scent that served as the starting (target) sample to which the elephant then systematically determined a potential match in any of the nine glass jars presented. Elephants matched target and sample at levels significantly higher than indicated by random chance, displayed no loss of working memory, and successfully discriminated target odours. They also discriminated between related human individuals spanning three generations and including sibling pairs. In addition to demonstrating scent matching capabilities, this experiment supported the elephants’ significant ability to perform well at operant conditioning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]