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African Elephants Call Each Other By "Names", Just Like Humans Do...Other species copy each other's calls, but these elephants have unique "rumbles" for each individual.
IFL Science ^ | June 13, 2024 | LAURA SIMMONS

Posted on 06/14/2024 12:20:16 PM PDT by Red Badger

Names are universal throughout human cultures and across different languages. They form a huge part of our identity and help us communicate with each other, but personal names are considered a uniquely human thing. Now, new research has suggested that wild African elephants could address each other with individual specific calls – the equivalent of a name – with fascinating implications for the evolution of language.

The new research analyzed calls from wild elephants in two areas of Kenya: the greater Samburu ecosystem to the north, and the Amboseli National Park to the south. The final dataset contained around 470 separate elephant calls. There were 101 unique callers and 117 unique receivers. The researchers only included calls directed at a single individual elephant, and for which the receiver could be identified.

The team measured the acoustic features of the elephant sounds and ran a series of statistical tests on the data, to see if it was possible to predict the identity of the receiver from the call. And indeed, this was found to be the case, as the team writes: “[R]eceivers of calls could be correctly identified from call structure statistically significantly better than chance.”

One aspect the team were particularly interested in was whether the calls mimicked the receiver’s own vocalizations. This has been observed in other species, such as dolphins, which can learn each other’s individual vocal labels and respond to their own label when they hear it.

What was fascinating about the elephant data, though, was that the authors found limited evidence that the callers were imitating each receiver’s own call.

"Our finding that elephants are not simply mimicking the sound associated with the individual they are calling was the most intriguing," said study author Kurt Fristrup in a statement seen by IFLScience. "The capacity to utilize arbitrary sonic labels for other individuals suggests that other kinds of labels or descriptors may exist in elephant calls."

Adult elephant and two calves walking across a brush landscape in northern Kenya, with blue sky in the background Elephants have complex social networks, from family groups to the wider clan. Image credit: George Wittemyer

The authors also took 17 of the elephants and played them recordings of calls that were originally addressed to them to see how they responded. “Further supporting the existence of vocal labels,” the authors write, “subjects approached the speaker more quickly [and] vocalized more quickly […] in response to test playbacks than control playbacks.”

Thankfully, it's unlikely the elephants were troubled by these prank calls, as first author Michael Pardo said: "They were probably temporarily confused by the playback but eventually just dismissed it as a strange event and went on with their lives."

Overall, the authors concluded that this could well be the first evidence of a non-human species using a human-like naming system to refer to other individuals. As to why this might arise in elephants specifically, there are some clues we can glean from their social structures.

“[D]ue to their fission-fusion social dynamics [elephants] are often separated from their closely bonded social partners,” the authors explain, referring to elephants’ tendency to split themselves up into smaller parties that can then aggregate together to form large groups, sometimes hundreds-strong.

“[V]ocal labels probably allow elephants to attract the attention of a specific distant receiver,” the authors continue, also noting that the labels only cropped up in a minority of vocalizations, likely because in many contexts there is no need to use them.

There’s also a cuddlier aspect to all this: calling each other by their names could be a way of enhancing social bonding, the authors posit, as is the case with humans. The authors note that the “findings raise intriguing questions about the complexity of elephant social cognition,” and thus open up a fascinating new avenue for researchers to explore.

Sadly, that likely won't extend to us being able to have a chat with an elephant, much as we might want to.

"It's tough to live with elephants, when you're trying to share a landscape and they're eating crops," said senior author George Wittemyer. "I'd like to be able to warn them, 'Do not come here. You're going to be killed if you come here.'"

The study is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: africa; elephant; elephants; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs
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1 posted on 06/14/2024 12:20:16 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

What about their use of pronouns?


2 posted on 06/14/2024 12:22:21 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

Apparently they don’t have any.............


3 posted on 06/14/2024 12:23:57 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Sound like a good policy for humans to adopt....


4 posted on 06/14/2024 12:25:51 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Red Badger

Republicans…In Africa?


5 posted on 06/14/2024 12:26:23 PM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (The world continues to be stuck in a "all leftist, all of the time" funk. BUNK THE FUNK!)
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To: Red Badger

Thankfully, it’s unlikely the elephants were troubled by these prank calls, as first author Michael Pardo said: “They were probably temporarily confused by the playback but eventually just dismissed it as a strange event and went on with their lives.”


But a mirror in front of a kitten and you distress them for life.


6 posted on 06/14/2024 12:30:54 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Red Badger

Once of them has to be called Biggus Trunkus.


7 posted on 06/14/2024 12:31:33 PM PDT by Ancesthntr (Paul Weiss )
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To: Red Badger
"African Elephants Call Each Other By 'Names'"

An elephant responds by name.
A jackass responds to "free stuff."
8 posted on 06/14/2024 12:31:47 PM PDT by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: Paladin2

LMAO! Now the researchers only have to figure out how to say “homie” or “bro” in elephant!


9 posted on 06/14/2024 12:32:06 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (The Democrat breadlines will be gluten-free. )
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To: Red Badger

Ever hear a cow ball for her calf in a herd of cows. The calf hears it and recognizes it as mom and will come running.


10 posted on 06/14/2024 12:33:28 PM PDT by eastforker (All in, I'm all Trump,what you got!)
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To: Red Badger

Good for them.


11 posted on 06/14/2024 12:35:21 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: Red Badger

Just one question. Do you think they call each other the “N” word? (Nozzle)


12 posted on 06/14/2024 12:36:42 PM PDT by Ikeon (Ssdd, day 20,xxx , still surrounded with sub intelligent beings on all sides. )
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To: Red Badger

Humpf! I’ve known this for decades. How do you think Tarzan called specific elephants depending on the job he needed done?


13 posted on 06/14/2024 12:39:15 PM PDT by CFW
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To: Red Badger

So they are like macho men.


14 posted on 06/14/2024 12:42:25 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: Ikeon

Hose Head.

I’m not gonna worry until they start throwing gang sign.


15 posted on 06/14/2024 12:46:18 PM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: Paladin2

Ladies identify as big, gents as bigger


16 posted on 06/14/2024 12:48:21 PM PDT by skr (Righteousness exalteth a nation: sin is a reproach to any people. - Proverbs 14:34)
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To: Red Badger

In the past, some folks credited elephants with ESP powers due to their apparent ability to communicate over distance. Turns out, they make sounds we humanpeoplepersons can’t hear.


17 posted on 06/14/2024 12:51:02 PM PDT by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
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To: Ancesthntr

https://youtu.be/HrcbCW4y9Dw?si=xozA8m1vhLy6issJ


18 posted on 06/14/2024 12:57:43 PM PDT by Ancesthntr (“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free" - The Weapons Shops of Isshur)
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To: Red Badger

Babar.


19 posted on 06/14/2024 1:23:42 PM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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To: Red Badger

Names elephants call each other:

1. Fat Ass

2. Big Ears

3. Tubby

4. Long Nose


20 posted on 06/14/2024 1:30:43 PM PDT by Fido969
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