Only slightly ripe bananas can be peeled by this elephant.

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Which end of the banana do you peel first? One of the elephants chooses the third alternative.

Pang Pha, an Asian elephant at the Berlin Zoo, has been observed by researchers breaking a little browning banana with her trunk, shaking the pulp onto the ground, discarding the skin, and then stuffing the pulp into her mouth, as reported in the April 10 issue of Current Biology. Rarely observed in elephants, this behaviour may provide insight into how these animals learn complicated behaviours.

Neuroscientist Lena Kaufmann from Berlin's Humboldt University was told by a zookeeper that one of the elephants could peel bananas. Kaufmann and his team struggled for weeks to convince Pang Pha to repeat the behaviour. This is because the elephant's banana-eating technique appears to be influenced by the bananas' maturity.

Pang Pha enjoyed eating bananas in their natural state, peel and all. When Kaufmann presented the mellow giant with a brown-spotted banana, that's when she showed off her peeling skills. Kaufmann's group discovered, however, that the fruit can't be too brown. Bananas with any hint of browning were rejected by Pang Pha. At first, she would protest by gently setting them on the floor. Now she just discards them.

When Pang Pha was among other elephants, he surprised everyone by swallowing whole a yellow-brown banana. During group meals, she always waited until the final banana to use her special peeling technique.

The researchers think that Pang Pha picked up the skill to peel from watching her human carers. The researchers claims that it is exceedingly unusual for elephants to pick up human behaviours, especially one as intricate as this one. Pang Pha's daughter and the other elephants at the zoo have not been seen peeling bananas. That points to the fact that the talent is not easily passed from elephant to elephant.

Kaufmann says the latest study proves the importance of studying animals in isolation. "There's such a rich landscape of behaviours that we lose if we only look at what all elephants have in common," she argues. It's clear that elephants have extraordinary abilities when you examine them one by one.