Scientists used machine learning to analyse hundreds of recordings of elephant rumbles.African elephants call to each other and respond to their individual names. This behavior, typical of humans, is unusual in the world of wild animals.
Scientists used machine learning to analyse hundreds of recordings of elephant rumbles.
Calling each other by unique names is an extremely rare phenomenon among wild animals. Bottlenose dolphins and some parrots communicate with each other by imitating the sender’s sounds.
According to the latest study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, elephants, like people, give themselves individual names. They also have a rare talent that allows them to learn the pronunciation of unique, new sounds throughout their lives.
Scientists analysed hundreds of recordings
Biologists involved in the study used the sounds of elephants from Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park in Kenya. In total, they had 469 recordings recorded between 1986 and 2022. They analysed the materials using machine learning.
“If the calls included something like a name, then we should be able to figure out who the call was addressed to just based on its acoustic features,” said study lead author Mickey Pardo, an animal behaviourist and doctoral student at Cornell University in New York.
The machine learning model correctly identified the recipient 27.5% of the time (cases). After providing random data, the model correctly marked only 8%. messages.
As the author of the study, Mickey Pardo from Cornell University, explained, elephants, like people, do not use their names in every statement, which is why scientists did not expect 100 percent accuracy or effectiveness.
The elephants responded enthusiastically to their names
The researchers tested their results by playing the recordings to individual elephants, which responded more vigorously, flapping their ears and raising their trunks, to recordings containing their names. Vocalisations directed at others were completely ignored by most elephants.
“Elephants are extremely social, always talking and touching each other – this nomenclature is probably one of the things that underlies their ability to communicate,” said study co-author and Colorado State University ecologist, George Wittemyer.
This article was originally published on Onet.