By James WoodfordElephants are masters at using a hose – considered a complex tool because of its flexibility, length and the physics of flowing water.Researchers studying three Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) at Berlin Zoo were surprised to see how nimbly they manipulated a hose to shower themselves and seemed to understand how to get the best use out of it.

An Asian elephant has been not-so-secretly filmed showering with a water hose at a zoo in Germany, in what scientists described as a “sophisticated behaviour” that shows “remarkable skill”.