It turns out that humans may not be the only species that have personalized identifiers for each other. A new study has found that African savannah elephants, an endangered species, have names among themselves that resemble human names – a finding that potentially “radically extends the expressive power of linguistic evolution”.
The researchers analyzed the hum – “a harmonically rich low-frequency sound that is individually distinct” – of African savannah elephants, referred to as endangered on the IUCN Red List as populations continue to decline, mainly due to poaching and land development. Specifically, the researchers examined 469 hums of three different types – contact, greeting and care – from groups of female offspring between 1986 and 2022. Using a machine learning model, they identified the recipients of over 27% of these calls.
These elephants are known for traveling in family units of about 10 females and their calves, and multiple family units often combine to form a “tribe,” according to the World Wildlife Fund, with males only coming during mating season. .
The researchers also examined the reactions of 17 wild elephants to call recordings directed at them or another elephant. Elephants who heard recordings addressed to them had faster and more vocal responses than those who heard recordings addressed to other elephants, researchers found.
And what they found is that elephants — the largest land species in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund — do indeed have individual phonetic identifiers, “a phenomenon previously known to occur only in human language.” Other animals known to use vocal tags, such as parrots and dolphins, do so exclusively through mimicry, the researchers said in the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Videos shared by researchers show how elephants respond to recordings of calls directed at them. In one, an elephant named Margaret seems to almost immediately enjoy a recording addressed to her. Captioning the video, investigators said she “raises her head immediately and then calls out in response after a few seconds.” A separate video shows Margaret lifting her head to a call addressed to another elephant, but not responding.
Another elephant named Donatella shows the animal callback issue after hearing her name and approaching the recording.
More research is needed on these observations, the study authors said, particularly to better understand the context surrounding the calls. But so far, these results have “important implications for elephant cognition, as inventing or learning sounds to address one another suggests the capacity for some degree of symbolic thought,” they said.
African savannah elephants are found in nearly two dozen countries, including Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa. In 2021, this species, as well as its close relative, the African forest elephant, received degraded conservation status.
According to the IUCN, the forest elephant species has been downgraded to critically endangered, while the savannah elephant are listed as endangered, whereas previously both species were “treated as a single species” classified as vulnerable. The new regime came after findings that forest elephant populations have declined by more than 86% over 31 years, while savannah elephants have declined by at least 60% in half a century.
“With the persistent demand for ivory and escalating human pressures on Africa’s wild lands, concern for Africa’s elephants is high and the need for creative conservation and wise management of these animals and their habitats is more pressing than ever. ,” said evaluator and African elephant expert Kathleen Gobush. he said then.