“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.” - Confucius

Did you know elephants have names for each other?

According to a study published June 10 in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal, African elephants have distinctive sounds they use to refer to each other. The study was written by Michael A. Pardo, Kurt Fristrup, David S. Lolchuragi, Joyce H. Poole, Petter Granli, Cynthia Moss, Iain Douglas-Hamilton and George Wittemyer.

“Personal names are a universal feature of human language, yet few analogues exist in other species,” the study says.

Other animals, such as dolphins and parrots, have been known to mimic the sounds or “voices” of others in the group to get their attention. This differs from the elephants in that the pachyderms do not imitate but rather have separate sounds for each individual. The study further shows the elephants would react and respond to playbacks of their “names.”

The study was conducted over four years, with more than a year of intensive fieldwork in Kenya. Nearly 500 distinct calls were recorded from 101 elephants in Sambru National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.

According to the study, the most common type of elephant call is referred to as a rumble, “a harmonically rich, low-frequency sound that is individually distinct and distinguishable and is produced across most behavioral contexts.” There have been previously identified rumble tones to indicate greetings, caregiving, making contact and more. These rumbles are known to have a lot of acoustic variations.

These rumbles were studied to see if they contained individual vocal labels to refer to specific individuals. They additionally took note to see if different elephants used the same vocal label for the same individual. It was discovered there are distinct rumble tones and vocal labels used to refer to individuals, who would also respond when hearing their tones.

It was discovered the elephants, like humans, did not always address each other by name in every conversation. The names were more likely to be used when calling over long distances or when adults would talk to young calves.

“Labeling objects or individuals without relying on imitation of the sounds made by referent radically expands the expressive power of knowledge,” the study says.

A Colorado State University article noted “arbitrary communication - where a sound represents an idea but does not imitate it - greatly expands communication capability and is considered a next-level cognitive skill.”

The CSU article reported elephant and human evolution is tens of millions of years apart, yet both species are socially complex with family units, social groups and a larger clan network. Both groups are also highly communicative, and this vocalization revelation may indicate elephants are also capable of abstract thought.

“It’s probably a case where we have similar pressures, largely from complex social interactions,” Wittemyer said. “That’s one of the exciting things about this study; it gives us some insight into possible drivers of why we evolved these abilities.”

In addition to co-authoring the study, Wittemyer is a professor at CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources and chairman of the scientific board of Save the Elephants, which took part in the study.

Pardo also noted they are not sure the extent of the naming or exactly how they are used. Pardo was a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University and Save the Elephants during the study. He now works at Cornell University.

“People might assume that elephant names work in exactly the same way as human names, which is not necessarily true,” Pardo said in an NPR article about the study.

Additional research is needed to explore or learn if elephants have names for other things, such as places or items. The extent of their communication and cognition is still unknown, but this offers a glimpse into the intellect of these magnificent creatures.

Hopefully these findings will help with conservation efforts to continue protecting the animals, long poached for their ivory to the point of being endangered.

Samantha Anderson

editorial assistant

Whitehall-Coplay Press

Northampton Press

Catasauqua Press