Do elephants have individual “names” that are created for them by fellow members of their herd–names that they recognize and respond to? An interesting study of two herds of African savannah elephants in Kenya indicates that might be the case.
The study looked at the wide range of sounds made by elephants, which range from the familiar trumpet blasts to low “rumbles” that cannot be heard by humans. The study focused on the “rumbles,” recorded them, and used a machine learning process to distinguish between them. Eventually the researchers identified 469 distinct calls.
What researchers determined were elephant “names” are rumbles that involve “a harmonically rich, low-frequency sound” that elephants used to communicate over long distances. The rumbles were often directed by adult elephants to young elephants. When researchers played the calls to the elephants associated with the particular rumbles, they responded with interest, whereas they ignored other, different rumbles.
So, do elephants in fact invent ‘names” for each other, and do mama elephants use a particular rumble to tell their wayward child Tantor that it’s time to quit messing around and rejoin the herd? We’ll probably never know for certain. But if that is the case, elephants would join humans in the very exclusive club of species that give each other names. And giving another individual a name indicates some high-level brain activity, which makes you wonder what other things elephants are thinking about, and what else they are communicating by that wide range of elephant vocalizations. The discovery of apparent rumbling “names” might just be the tip of the elephant communication iceberg.
Webner House 