Wild elephants may have names that other elephants use to call them

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/07/nx-s1-4994426/wild-elephants-individual-names

by hackernj • 2 years ago

130 22 2 years ago

DEADMINCE• 2 years ago

Elephants are one of the smartest animals, possessing self-awareness and metacognition, an extreme rarity in the animal kingdom. They are one of the few species to make art and mourn and bury their dead. That they have unique identifiers is not a surprise at all.

JumpCrisscross• 2 years ago

one of the few species to make art

Source?

defrost• 2 years ago

They're also one of the few species to build roads and bridges.

I suspect the quiet part of the three assertions is "under human supervision".

You can certainly visit various zoos and purchase art by elephants and watch them paint with brushes on large canvases.

Typically less dense than a Jackson Pollack and less use of spaghetti than a Pro Hart* carpet.

( * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb4n8yc2so )

pvaldes• 2 years ago

Assuming that the videos are real, elephants on zoos had being recorded painting scenes on canvasses that aren't completely abstract. They are trained to paint to please visitors, but curiously they seem to enjoy drawing trees.

Is not clear to me if they just parrot the training or really try to send a message or draw some scene that they find instinctively pleasant. (but wouldn't be strange having in mind their intelligence).

Log_out_3• 2 years ago

How do they react to complex reveals? Google earth + ZOOM on a tablet? A video of evolutionary development and history?

Log_out_3• 2 years ago

Why is that controversial, the ability to recognize a map and handle the revealed absteaction via a zoom slider is a great tool to observe cognitive flexibility..

waste_monk• 2 years ago

It's said that they never forget, and they never forgive.

bitwize• 2 years ago

This is not surprising to me; dolphins and crows do as well. I've come to expect it from any creature at or near human-level intelligence.

alexb23• 2 years ago

What’s very remarkable is that elephants like human seem to invent abstract names; other animals like dolphins mimic the signature sound of another to attract their attention.

082349872349872• 2 years ago

As a precursor to Animal Farm, Kipling's https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/tale/her-majestys-servants.... (1894) features a number of animals caught up in state bureaucracy.

The other animals have nicknamed the elephant "Two Tails", and it explains that it is afraid in battle because it can think about what happens when a shell bursts, and ruminates upon whether it might not be better off back at home in the forest rather than here in the army...

riffic• 2 years ago

darwin himself said the difference of mind between humans and higher animals is one of degree, not kind.

neonate• 2 years ago

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02420-w

wtarreau• 2 years ago

Not surprised. These animals are fascinating. We're not even sure we have caught everything from their language; maybe it's not just sound-based, and the way they shake their trump and ears or they dance counts a lot as well. I've long wondered if some of them developed some religions or even if they've overcome this need, reserving it to humans only.

Another study already showed that some monkeys have vocal words to designate a tiger and an eagle and use that to make all the group go up or down in the tree depending where the threat comes from. Elephants being more complex animals also living in groups are quite likely to have an even more elaborated language.

baby• 2 years ago

How many animals have human-level language? The only I’m aware are these monkeys that were taught how to sign

ajb• 2 years ago

If you're taking about Koko the gorilla, that one is controversial. Look up Alex the parrot (Irene Pepperberg), which has a decent evidence base

circlefavshape• 2 years ago

The true answer is "we don't know".

lacker• 2 years ago

I wonder if they have "two-word sentences", sequences of calls that mean something particular in context. Like "Bob, eat!" or "Mom, help!".

youniverse• 2 years ago

Somewhat OT but have you guys seen this video of a horse entertaining a baby - what an incredible display of intelligence.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3CP7IXOjIhw

Wild elephants may have names that other elephants use to call them

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