Highly Social Elephants Communicate With Gestures and Sounds, Expert Says

Elephants are as social as humans. They also greet their companions in the same way.

Elephants Communicate With Sounds and Gestures Like Humans

Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna in Austria, the lead writer of a recent elephant study, appeared in NPR's "All Things Considered." She spoke about the way elephants communicate, and according to her, they are like humans because they communicate with each other through sounds and gestures.

During the interview, the host recorded two elephants seemingly communicating. When Eleuteri was asked about the recording, she said it was like they were greeting each other upon seeing one another.

While humans make hand gestures, elephants have "multimodal" or "multi-component" communication. They would often rumble and flap their ears forward. She noted a particular pattern—elephants would first rumble before flapping their ears. Another variation was rumbling and spreading their ears forward or roaring and touching their recipient with their tail. According to her, there were different combinations.

She also confirmed that some elephants have a bigger personality than others. She named Doma, a male savannah elephant whom his kind reportedly adored.

The other elephants reportedly went to Doma for help when they were in trouble, and everyone liked him a lot. They reunited Doma with another male and a female elephant, and both reacted similarly.

They showed signs of submission to Doma and were excited to meet him.

They would touch him but keep their trunks in another direction to show that they submit to him.

On the other hand, Doma directed his trunk towards them. He would sniff them, probably to get some relevant information from them.

Civil War Changed Elephants' Genes

Elephants are not just gentle giants; they are also very smart and have sharp memories. In fact, elephants from Gorongosa still remember the traumatic events from the 15-year Civil War in Mozambique.

At the time, the elephants at Gorongosa were slaughtered by the warring soldiers to trade their ivory to finance their weapons. The traumatic incident changed their genes. Natural selection helped them survive by bringing baby elephants without tasks. Following the war, 32 percent of female elephants were born tuskless.

Aside from altering their DNA, the war resulted in "transgenerational trauma." The elephants from Gorongosa were reportedly likely to charge at people in Jeeps and Land Rovers compared to those living in Kenya because they perceived them as death on wheels.

According to Joyce Poole, the scientific director of Elephant Voices, who has studied the animals for over 50 years, elephants also possess a slight attitude. In Gorongosa, the younger elephants observe and learn from the adult ones. The adults tell the younger ones about vehicles that carry soldiers, and many of them are old enough to remember this. As a result of the entire experience, they suffer from "transgenerational trauma."