New research has found that African elephants call and respond to each other with unique names. These calls are part of the low-frequency sounds that elephants use to communicate over long distances across vast plains.
According to scientists, animals with complex social structures and family groups, often separate and united, use this name more often.
It is rare for wild animals to have different names. In addition to humans, dogs recognize names, baby dolphins make their own names known as signature sounds, and chickens can also use names.
Every animal that uses this name has the ability, including elephants, to learn new sounds throughout their lives.
In a study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, biologists used machine learning to identify name usage in an acoustic library of savannah elephant vocalizations recorded in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.
