Elephants Can Lend A Helping Trunk Rhetorical Analysis

“Elephants now join an elite club of of social cooperators,” says Virginia Morell. Recent studies show that there are more species out there with cognitive skills nearing humans’. The experiment which proved this required elephants to use teamwork in order to complete a task. Once the remarkable results were in, three different takes on the experience were written: an article, a passage and a video. Although these three all convey the same subject matter, they present it differently; the article simplifies the information for the reader, the video summarizes the information and provides a visual for the reader, and finally the passage provides a more detailed and objective analysis of the experiment.
The video “Elephants Show Cooperation” brings
First, the tone. While informational, the tone remains conversational and welcoming. Nothing that is said is too hard to interpret, creating opportunity to have a wider audience. For example, the first sentence of the article: “Elephants know when they need a helping hand - or rather, trunk.” Not only does this seem friendly, but it references the commonly known phrase, “a helping hand.” Moreover, the information is given in reasonable paragraphs, and is not overwhelming for the reader. This allows readers who are interested to get a head start in comprehending the experiment, while others can still enjoy the story without having to know every detail. Despite the lack of visual aid, the writing style makes up for it by using imagery. Not to mention, the author provides opinions and ideas explained by scientists involved. Not only does the passage and video lack this, but these quotes help readers understand what it’s like to have worked with the elephants in person, as well as understand the astounding impact this experiment will have in the future of biology. Overall, the article is very reader friendly and a balance between the video and the