Scientists discover elephants use complex vocal communication

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Bull elephants signal "let’s go" with specific deep rumbles, reveals new research.

Scientists say their the "surprising" discovery is a major step closer to the idea of "elephant language.”

Male elephants were for the first time documented using specific trunk calls to signal the start of group departures from the Mushara waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia.

The vocalizations were initiated by the most socially integrated - and often most dominant - males in close-knit social groups.

The researchers were surprised as only female elephants were previously thought to sound such signals.

The American-led team observed how a senior male would turn from the waterhole and, with his ears flapping gently, let out a deep, resonant rumble.

One by one, the other elephants respond, their voices overlapping in a "sonorous, infrasonic" chorus - "akin to a barbershop quartet" - before gradually following their rumbling leader.

Scientists say the findings, published in the journal PeerJ , were "surprising" because the behavior was previously thought to be exclusive to female elephants in family groups.

Study lead author Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell said: “We were astonished to find that male elephants, typically considered to have loose social ties, engage in such sophisticated vocal coordination to trigger action.

“These calls show us that there’s much more going on within their vocal communication than has previously been known.”

She first recorded the male “Let’s go” rumble in 2004 while conducting fieldwork at night to understand how elephant vocalizations propagate through the ground.

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell, a research associate at Stanford University’s Center for Conservation Biology in California, said: “I was so excited when I managed to record it.

“It was thrilling to realize that these males were using complex vocal coordination like the females were.”

From 2005 to 2017, the team collected data at the Mushara waterhole, mainly during the dry seasons.

They used high-tech recording equipment, including buried microphones and night-vision video cameras, to capture the infrasonic vocalizations, inaudible to human ears.

The researchers analyzed the vocalizations for acoustic properties and patterns and used social network analysis to understand relationships and hierarchy among the males, noting which elephants initiated the rumbles, how others responded, and the sequence of events leading to the coordinated departures.

They say the “let’s go” rumbles observed in male elephants bear "striking" similarities to those previously recorded in female elephants.

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell and her team believe that male elephants likely learn the behavior when they are young.

She said: “They grew up in a family where all the female leaders were engaging in this ritual.

“We think that as they mature and form their own groups, they adapt and use these learned behaviors to coordinate with other males.”

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell explained that in the case of both male and female elephants, the initiator’s call is followed by the next individual’s rumble, with each elephant waiting for the preceding call to nearly finish before adding their own voice.

She said it creates a harmonious, turn-taking pattern "akin to a barbershop quartet".

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell said: “It’s very synchronized and ritualized.

"When one goes high, the other goes low, and they have this vocal space where they’re coordinating."

The discovery follows another ground-breaking study that used AI to reveal that wild elephants have unique names for each other, indicating the use of nouns in their communication.

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell said: “In our paper, we show that elephants are using verbs in the form of this ‘let’s go’ rumble.

"If they are using noun-verb combinations together, that is syntax. That is language.”

The new study also reveals the crucial roles that some dominant male elephants play within their social groups, helping to maintain cohesion and stability.

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell said: “These individuals take on mentoring roles.

“They care about these young whippersnappers who are very needy and always wanting to be in physical contact.

"The older males are willing to take them under their wing, to guide them, share resources with them, and partake in their emotional ups and downs.”

She said that, in countries that allow hunting, care should be taken to avoid hunting older socially connected male elephants as their removal could "disrupt" social cohesion and mentoring structures within groups.

The research also suggests that strong social bonds and interactions are "essential" for the well-being of captive and semi-captive male elephants.

Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell added: “Our findings not only underscore the complexity and richness of the social lives of male elephants, but also advance our understanding of how they use vocalizations in ritual and coordination and, really, move us closer to the idea of elephant language.”

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