Elephants: Inventing Names and Communicating Abstractly

Elephants have a remarkable ability to recognize and respond to specific calls made by their fellow pachyderms, according to a recent study published in the scientific journal Nature. Lead author Michael Pardo, from Colorado State University, explained that the research supports the idea that elephants can invent arbitrary names for one another.

By analyzing recordings from the Samburu reserve and Amboseli national park in Kenya, researchers identified 469 different calls, with 101 elephants making a call and 117 receiving one. Elephants have a wide range of vocalizations, from loud trumpets to soft murmurs that are inaudible to the human ear. The study suggests that elephants, similar to humans, assign arbitrary names to members of their herd with whom they wish to communicate.

These observations about elephants indicate their capacity for abstract thinking, according to Professor George Wittemyer from the University of Colorado, who supervised the study. The calls, often emitted as grunts, are more frequent at a distance and between adults and young elephants. Adults are more likely to use these sounds, suggesting that pronouncing names requires years of training.

The study suggests that the highly social behavior of elephants may have contributed to the development of their communication capacity, highlighting their ability to engage in complex social interactions.