Elephants call out to each other using individual names, a new study finds

Elephants call out to each other using individual names that they invent for their fellow pachyderms, a new study has found.

According to the study published in journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, elephants are the first non-human animals known to use names that do not involve imitation.

The scientists, who conducted the study, used an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyse the calls of two wild herds of African savanna elephants in Kenya.

The research “not only shows that elephants use specific vocalisations for each individual, but that they recognise and react to a call addressed to them while ignoring those addressed to others”, one of the study’s authors said.