Elephants call each other by name, just like people

You’ve heard of elephants such as Dumbo and Lumpy before, but these are just names given by people. However, recent research has discovered that these highly intelligent gentle giants call each other by name. These unique vocalizations are, of course, not as articulate as human speech but rather distinct low rumbling sounds that identify the intended recipient. They’re name-like calls.

These remarkable findings position elephants as the first non-human animals to use a form of address that doesn’t mimic the receiver’s call, a trait previously observed in dolphins and parrots. In fact, elephants are one step ahead of other animals.

“Dolphins and parrots call one another by ‘name’ by imitating the signature call of the addressee,” said lead author Michael Pardo, who conducted the study as an NSF postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University and Save the Elephants, a research and conservation organization based in Kenya. “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 names of giants, revealed by AI

In northern Kenya’s Samburu ecosystem and southern Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, researchers led by behavioral ecologist Michael Pardo from Colorado State recorded over 600 elephant calls. You may be familiar with their iconic trumpet-like calls, but elephants also produce low-frequency noises between 1 to 20 Hertz, too low for the human ear to hear. However, these so-called infrasounds can travel over vast distances as large as 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The researchers then implemented a machine learning algorithm, which identified specific rumbles for 119 individual elephants, or close to 20% of cases. They isolated rumbles from certain individuals by observing what elephants were separated from or approached the herd during these vocalizations.

Some of these rumbles were played back to 17 wild elephants. When they heard their name, they were more likely to move quickly toward the sound source and vocalize faster in response. These rumbles were remarkably consistent with the receiving elephant.

Elephants make different types of rumbles when they greet each other, encounter a predator, or want to play. But the ‘name’ calls are distinct. They’re not generic sounds either, such as those a mother elephant might use to solicit the attention of their offspring. This is a next-level cognitive ability, the researchers say — one that suggests that elephants are capable of abstract thought.

Elephants and humans may have parted ways on the evolutionary tree tens of millions of years ago, yet both species exhibit remarkable social complexity and advanced communication skills. Elephants operate within family units, social groups, and a broader clan structure, mirroring the intricate social networks humans navigate.

Researchers suggest that similar social needs may have led to the development of arbitrary vocal labeling in both species—the practice of using abstract sounds to identify individuals.

“It’s probably a case where we have similar pressures, largely from complex social interactions,”  said co-author George Wittemyer, a professor in Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources and chairman of the scientific board of Save the Elephants. “That’s one of the exciting things about this study, it gives us some insight into possible drivers of why we evolved these abilities.” 

The researchers also noted that calls to the same elephant by different callers were similar, hinting at a multi-layered communication system. According to the new study, “receivers of calls could be correctly identified from call structure statistically significantly better than chance.”

The scientists emphasized that considerably more data is required to pinpoint the names embedded within the calls and to ascertain whether elephants also assign names to other entities they interact with, such as food, water, and locations.

“Unfortunately, we can’t have them speak into microphones,” Wittemyer said, noting the barriers to collecting sufficient data.  

In a lecture available on YouTube, Pardo says his discoveries “blur the line” between “what we think is unique to human language versus what is found in other animal communication systems.” The new research was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

This article originally appeared in November 2023 and included a report based on a pre-print of the study before it was peer-reviewed. The content has now been updated with information from the full release of the study.