Study shows elephants might call each other by name

Over the years, researchers who study elephants have noticed an intriguing phenomenon. The study's findings indicate that elephants "address one another with something like a name," according to behavioral ecologist Mickey Pardo of Cornell University and formerly of Colorado State University, lead author of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. "Certainly, in order to address one another in this way, elephants must learn to associate particular sounds with particular individuals and then use those sounds to get the attention of the individual in question, which requires sophisticated learning ability and understanding of social relationships," Pardo said. "The fact that elephants address one another as individuals highlights the importance of social bonds - and specifically, maintaining many different social bonds - for these animals," Pardo added. "We don't know exhaustively, but from our analysis it appears commonly during contact calls where an elephant calls to another individual - often by name," said Colorado State University conservation biologist and study co-author George Wittemyer, chair of the scientific board of the conservation group Save the Elephants.