Elephants are capable of vocal learning

23 March 2005

journal article
research article
Published by Springer Nature in Nature

Vol. 434 (7032) , 455-456
https://doi.org/10.1038/434455a

Abstract

There are a few mammalian species that can modify their vocalizations in response to auditory experience1 — for example, some marine mammals use vocal imitation for reproductive advertisement, as birds sometimes do. Here we describe two examples of vocal imitation by African savannah elephants, Loxodonta africana, a terrestrial mammal that lives in a complex fission–fusion society2. Our findings favour a role for vocal imitation that has already been proposed for primates, birds, bats and marine mammals: it is a useful form of acoustic communication that helps to maintain individual-specific bonds within changing social groupings3,4.

Keywords

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