On the Supposedly Perfect Memory of Mammoths

Mammoths possess excellent memory. They do not remember everything, and this distinction has somehow become controversial.

Traditional Aesir accounts accurately describe individual mammoths recognising routes, people, water sources, danger sites, and other mammoths after long intervals. Controlled observation supports much of this, and their spatial and social memory is exceptional. From this has grown the claim that a mammoth never forgets.

A mammoth can forget where food was hidden, confuse individuals, and fail to remember a route not travelled in decades. It can also spend fifteen minutes searching for an object directly behind itself. I have seen this. The Aesir herder present insisted the mammoth knew exactly where the object was and was “thinking.” The object was a bucket, and I remain unconvinced.

Good memory does not require perfection. If it did, universities would contain very few scholars.