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Elephants have names for each other like people do, new study shows - EurekAlert


Wild African elephants address each other with name-like calls, a rare ability among nonhuman animals, according to a new study. Researchers from Colorado State University, Save the Elephants and ElephantVoices used machine learning to confirm that elephant calls contained a name-like component identifying the intended recipient, a behavior they suspected based on observation. The study suggests elephants do not imitate the receiver's call to address one another but instead use arbitrary vocal labels like humans.

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