Elephants Call Each Other by Name

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Elephants Call Each Other by Name

Informational article

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Sindhuja

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Elephants call each other by name, study

suggests
By The Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 08.04.24
Word Count 641
Level 910L

A herd of elephants walks together. Thanks to artificial intelligence, researchers can now study elephant calls. Photo: Anup Shah/Getty
Images Photo: Anup Shah/Getty Images

Elephants have long been known for their unique abilities. They can solve puzzles, do math and
use tools. A recent study suggests yet another aspect to their intelligence. Theymight address one
another by individual names. A name is a word, phrase, or sound that represents something or
someone.

Scientists analyzed 469 calls, or rumbles, from wild African elephants in Kenya. The rumbles are
difficult for the human ear to tell apart. So, the scientists used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze
the elephant calls. Artificial intelligence is software that imitates complex human behavior, such as
spotting patterns or making decisions, and refines itself over time. It is also known as machine
learning or AI.

With the help of AI, the scientists found that individual elephants were capable of recognizing and
responding to name-like calls.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Elephants are "using this arbitrary symbol to refer to another individual," said Mickey Pardo, who
is the lead author of the study. He works at Colorado State University. "This tells us that they're
probably capable of understanding the abstract connection between the sound that they're using
and the individual that they have a relationship with."

In June, Pardo and other scientists published their findings in a scientific journal.

Arbitrary Naming

Elephants are not the only animals known to call each other by particular names. Some dolphins
and parakeets address each other.

But those animals imitate the call of the individual they are addressing. The new study suggests
elephants do something more complex. Instead of simply imitating the individual they wish to
address, they assign them a particular sound for some other reason. Their names could be as
arbitrary as Emily or John are to humans.

Elephants approached more quickly when scientists played calls addressed to them. They also
vocalized sooner and produced more vocalizations in response to the calls. The scientists think this
means that elephants can recognize and respond to their own names.

There is still a lot that scientists do not know. For instance, the scientists were not able to isolate
individual elephant names. They do not know whether different elephants used the same name for
a given elephant.

The next step is to determine naming structure. That will

require a larger data set. A data set is a collection of data, or
information, taken from a single source or intended for a single
project. When it comes to artificial intelligence, a data set is a
structured collection of data that is used to train and test AI
models.

Experts say the elephants' practice of naming is impressive. It Image 1. An elephant calf interacts with an

suggests advanced levels of thinking. adult. It has been known that elephants are
among one of the most intelligent mammals
Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell is a researcher at Harvard Medical on our planet. Photo: Dinouk
School. She has studied elephants in the wild for thirty years. Colombage/Getty Images
She said the findings suggest that elephants use language. She
also said the findings speak "to the elephant's ability to picture
another elephant in their mind and address them without necessarily seeing them."

Caring Enough

Pardo said the findings highlight the importance of elephants' social bonds. He pointed out that
there's no reason to learn someone's name if you don't care about them and interact with them
regularly.

Elephants are native to parts of Africa and Asia and can live up to 70 years in the wild. Scientists
have long recognized surprisingly humanlike traits in elephants. They show profound empathy.
And when a member of their community dies, elephants show signs of grief. After time apart,
elephants appear to celebrate when they reunite with friends.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Part of what fascinates him about elephants is their collaborative nature. Studies have shown that
two elephants will work together to obtain a reward. Scientists say that the findings could even
provide insight into humans, too.