Nature Ecology & Evolution: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02420-w
African elephants address one another with individually specific name-like calls
Elephants, like humans, maintain strong bonds with family members and associates, and it now seems that they have independently evolved a sophisticated mechanism for individually addressing them. Common features in the social environments of both human and elephant ancestors may have led them to develop this rare ability, the new research suggests.
Journal
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Author(s)
Pardo, M., Fristrup, K., Lolchuragi, D., Poole, J., Granli, P., Moss, C., Douglas-Hamilton I., Wittemyer G.
Summary
A groundbreaking study on African elephant communication has revealed that elephants, like humans, use ‘names’ to address each other.
Elephants, like humans, maintain strong bonds with family members and associates, and it now seems that they have independently evolved a sophisticated mechanism for individually addressing them. Common features in the social environments of both human and elephant ancestors may have led them to develop this rare ability, the new research suggests.
During the study, the researchers analysed calls from wild elephants in two areas of Kenya: Samburu National Reserve, where Save the Elephants has its main research base, and Amboseli National Park, where most of the calls in the ElephantVoices database were recorded. The ultimate dataset comprised 469 distinct calls. Among these, 101 unique callers and 117 unique receivers were identified.