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Study by Colorado State University Finds Elephants Use Name-Like Identifiers

Jun 10, 2024, 05:07 PM

A new study reveals that African savanna elephants use vocal name-like identifiers to address each other, a behavior previously thought to be unique to humans. The research, conducted by Colorado State University and published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on Monday, suggests that elephants may have the capacity for some degree of symbolic thought. This finding adds to the growing evidence that elephant intelligence parallels that of humans in many ways. The study used artificial intelligence tools to analyze elephant calls, concluding that the animals respond to individualized rumbles. This discovery opens the possibility that elephants might also have names for other things, although further research is needed to confirm this. Photo: George Wittemyer.