Do Elephants Call Each Other By Name?

Elephants are extraordinary creatures of great size and intelligence. They are the largest living land animals with three species currently recognized: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Scientists have studied the over-sized animals for years but have only recently discovered that they seem to name one another. Elephants, of course, don’t speak in any human language – so how could researchers come to such a conclusion? After spending endless hours observing elephants in their natural habitat, some clues as to how they go about communicating have become clearer.

Elephant Communications

Much of the communication between elephants takes place through touch. The mammals will lay their trunks on one another’s mouths and temporal glands to say hello. Mothers touch their calves with their trunks, feet, and tails depending on the location of the calf to her body. When the babies get hungry or need a rest, they will apply pressure to their mother’s legs or breasts.

To show excitement or agitation, the animals will raise their heads high and shake them, as well as throw around some dust or vegetation. More docile elephants will hang their heads and trunks low and sometimes flatten their ears against their bodies. Vocalization between the animals is a commonly used form of communication. Several sounds are made using both their mouths and trunks. The calls can be heard for long distances (up to six miles), enabling them to send messages when they become separated. Additionally, elephants use seismics as a form of communication. By stomping their feet, they can send signals up to 20 miles away.

Giving Each Other Names

It is widely known that elephants are smart creatures. Their intelligence ranks among that of apes and dolphins. While the science is still new, it is becoming increasingly obvious that elephants respond to certain sounds. Some calls will catch the attention of a group while others seem to gather a response from only one elephant at a time. Differing from other animals that can mimic names and sounds that they have heard, elephants seem to compile names for one another in a similar manner as humans. Biologist and lead author of this study, Dr. Michael Pardo, said: “Dolphins and parrots call one another by ‘name’ by imitating the signature call of the addressee. By contrast, our data suggest that elephants do not rely on imitation of the receiver’s calls to address one another, which is more similar to the way in which human names work.” The behavior was first noticed by Dr. Joyce Poole, co-founder of a research organization (ElephantVoices) out of Kenya, Africa. She began noting that when elephants called, the response would vary based on the sound. Some of the sounds made by elephants are inaudible to human ears. It took the use of a special microphone to determine exactly what noises created reactions by one, some, or all of the group. To solidify their findings, researchers collected around 600 different call sounds, or rumbles, over 30 years. They then used those calls to summon the intended target, and around 28% of the time, the correct elephant responded. Though 28% may not seem like a high number, scientists feel that they do not call one another by name all that often, so they would never expect a number anywhere near 100%. Scientists are learning more about wildlife every day. It is no surprise that elephants are incredibly intelligent mammals – but learning that they potentially name one another takes their intelligence to a whole new level.