Rumble. Grunt. Rumble. Grunt.
These low sounds arise from elephants tromping across the African savanna. But what are the elephants saying? Researchers think the animals might be calling to each other . . . by name.
Few wild creatures use and respond to individual names. Dogs can learn to come when their names are called. Baby dolphins invent their own names. Some parrots use names too. And scientists think we can add African elephants to the name club.
They say labels are helpful for keeping elephant families together. Imagine an elephant calling, “Hey, Jimbo, stay with the group!”
We might not be able to hear the names. Elephant rumbles include sounds that are below the range of human hearing. Scientists still don’t know which part of elephant talk includes names.
Researchers at two Kenyan parks followed elephants. The researchers watched from jeeps. Which animals called out? Which responded? Sometimes a mother called to a calf. Sometimes a leader elephant called to an elephant falling behind the group.
They turned to AI for help. A computer program searched the elephant noises. Then AI predicted which elephant was being addressed. AI was right almost one time out of every three tries. How did AI get it right that often? Scientists guess it’s because the elephants are using names.
Of course, the elephants didn’t use each other’s names every time they “spoke.” Just like people don’t call each other by name in every single sentence.
Researchers tested their results. They played the recordings to individual elephants. The animals responded to those that contained their names. They flapped their ears. They raised their trunks. Sometimes, elephants totally ignored recorded calls containing the names of other elephants.
There is much more still to learn about how elephants communicate. Scientist George Wittemyer says, “We just cracked open the door a bit to the elephant mind.”
Why? Names are a gift from the Creator, who named parts of His creation. When His creatures give names, they are reflecting Him!
