Student Article
Elephants Call Each Other by Name, Study Finds
Cognitive (adjective): Related to thinking, understanding, and learning.
Recognition (noun): Knowing or remembering something because you've experienced it before.
Context (noun): The setting or background in which something happens.
Symbolically (adverb): In terms of signs, sounds, or ideas instead of direct actions.
A groundbreaking study reveals that elephants may use vocal names to identify each other — a behavior once thought to be uniquely human.
Elephants might be calling each other by name
A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution has found that wild African elephants may use individual vocal sounds to refer to one another — essentially giving each other names. This discovery points to a level of cognitive complexity in elephants that could rival that of primates and humans.
Scientists used tech to decode elephant talk
Researchers led by Michael Pardo analyzed 469 elephant rumbles recorded in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park and the Samburu and Buffalo Springs Reserves. These low-frequency, harmonically rich rumbles were matched with both a known caller and a known receiver. By applying an algorithm to these recordings, the team identified specific rumbles that likely functioned as “names.”
Elephants know when they're being called
To test this theory, they played these name-like calls back to elephants. The elephants responded more strongly — approaching more quickly and vocalizing more — when they heard their own name compared with when they heard another elephant’s name. This behavior indicates recognition and understanding, even outside the normal context of communication.
Interestingly, adult elephants were more likely than calves to use these unique identifiers, especially during long-distance communication or when calling to young. This suggests name usage is a learned skill that develops with age and social experience.
Elephants are even smarter than we thought
Elephants are known for their complex communication systems involving sound, smell, touch, and visual cues. Their calls convey detailed information about emotional state, age, sex, and intent. The discovery that elephants might intentionally assign and recognize names adds to growing evidence that these animals are capable of abstract thought — the mental ability to represent things symbolically.
This research not only broadens our understanding of elephant intelligence but also raises questions about the cognitive abilities of other non-human animals.
© Helen Pilcher / Our Media
Cognitive (adjective): Related to thinking, understanding, and learning.
Recognition (noun): Knowing or remembering something because you've experienced it before.
Context (noun): The setting or background in which something happens.
Symbolically (adverb): In terms of signs, sounds, or ideas instead of direct actions.