Elephants have been proven to have a sense of smell 14X stronger than that of a dog. They can distinguish between individuals (elephants and humans), detect TNT and explosives, and track a person through the bush.
Current research focuses on tracking, search and rescue, anti-poaching, disease detection, and contraband detection, all in the hopes of making elephants more valuable to the local communities living with them.
During the Angolan war, the landscape was scattered with landmines, which along with the human population decimated the animal population during and after the war. Researchers, however, noticed that elephants started avoiding minefields. Watch this video to learn more about the research that resulted from this amazing observation.