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Smart Elephants

We know they never forget—but can they talk? 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon goes deep into the rainforest, where scientists have discovered elephants who speak in voices humans can’t even hear.

Published Dec. 31 2009 9:48AM EST

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-3_ieivz2 — Paul Sakuma / AP Photo

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-3_rptgzr — Valerie, a 26-year-old female African elephant picks Obama over McCain at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. (Oct. 29, 2008).
Paul Sakuma / AP Photo

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-2_ydnr7d — 14-year-old African elephant Sweni plays soccer with her keeper Vanessa Hagedorn, in her open-air enclosure at the zoo of Wuppertal, Germany (June 6, 2008).
Roberto Pfeil / AP Photo

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-4_cfvjut — Animal expert Dave Salmoni helps Jay Leno feed an African elephant (Oct. 29, 2009).
Stacie McChesney / NBCU Photo Bank

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-1_uorn7a — One-year-old African elephant Tika and her mother Sabie are seen at the Wuppertal zoo in Germany (July 10, 2008).
Roberto Pfeil / AP Photo

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-5_eqfgid — An elephant removes a motorbike damaged by the tsunami in the city of Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra (Jan. 19, 2005).
Kimimasa Mayama / Reuters

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-6_ms5xaa — Five-year-old Guy Davies has one ambition in life: to work with elephants in Billy Smart's circus (Jan. 1965).
Newscom

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-8_rvpbhx — Thandi, a 16-year-old African elephant, practices getting in and out of a semi-trailer with the help of Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium biologist Craig Wilcox (June 17, 1997).
Fredrick D. Joe / AP Photo

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-9_xsyws5 — African elephant Sweni paints a picture, while her son Tamo watches, during a presentation for photographers at Wuppertal zoo (June 6, 2008).
Ina Fassbender / Landov / Reuters

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-7_yvzmpt — Burma the Elephant steps over BBC Radio 1 DJs in London (Nov. 1967).
Newscom

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-11_kagyma — Elephants walk through a flooded and damaged area in the tsunami-ravaged town of Banda Aceh (Jan. 28, 2005).
Tarmizy Harva / Reuters

galleries/2009/12/31/smart-elephants/elephants-10_yjvwpa — One of David Smart's elephants boards the bus to Earl's Court (July 16, 1980).
Colin Davey / Evening Standard / Getty Images