Elephants, Earth's largest land animals, are highly intelligent, and known to have keen memory and problem-solving skills, and sophisticated communication. Previous research has shown that they engage in complicated behavior - visual, acoustic, and tactile gestures - when greeting each other.
Why would an elephant call to another elephant by "name"?
"We don't know exhaustively, but from our analysis, it appears commonly during contact calls where an elephant calls to another individual - often by name," said Colorado State University conservation biologist and study co-author George Wittemyer, chair of the scientific board of the conservation group Save the Elephants.
"It was also common among a mother's rumbles to her calves, often to calm them down or check in with them. We thought we would find it in greeting ceremonies, but it was less common in those types of vocalizations," Wittemyer added.
Using individual-specific vocal labels - names - is rare, but not unprecedented, in the animal kingdom. Dolphins and parrots have been shown to do this, too. But when they do it, they just imitate vocalizations made by the other animal. In elephants, the vocal labels are not simply imitating the sounds made by the addressee.
"Instead, their names seem to be arbitrary, like human names," Pardo said. "Addressing individuals with arbitrary names likely requires a capacity for some degree of abstract thought."
"I think this work highlights how intelligent and interesting elephants are, and I hope that engenders greater interest in their conservation and protection," Wittemyer added.
Might people one day be able to "talk" with elephants?
"That would be fantastic, but we are a long way off from that," Wittemyer said. "We still don't know the syntax or basic elements by which elephant vocalizations encode information. We need to figure that out before we can make deeper progress on understanding them."
REUTERS
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