Elephants call each other by unique names, like humans

Elephants may be the only animals besides humans to come up with arbitrary names for each other, according to an analysis of recordings using machine learning.More than 600 recordings made by Poole and others have now been analysed by Michael Pardo at Colorado State University and his colleagues.The analysis found that some calls from African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) seem to contain name-like components specific to certain individuals. What’s more, those individuals know their names, responding more strongly than others do when calls addressed to them are played back on a speaker.