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Cited by 348Animal Vocal Communication and BehaviorMarine animal studies overviewPrimate Behavior and Ecology

Unusually extensive networks of vocal recognition in African elephants

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McComb, Karen, Moss, Cynthia, Sayialel, Soila, Baker, Lucy·2000·Animal Behaviour
DOI 10.1006/anbe.2000.1406
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Abstract

Research on acoustic communication has often focused on signalling between territorial individuals or static neighbouring groups. Under these circumstances, receivers have the opportunity to learn to recognize the signals only of the limited number of conspecifics with which they are in auditory contact. In some mammals, however, social units move freely with respect to one another and range widely, providing individuals with opportunities to learn to recognize the signals of a wide range of conspecifics in addition to those of their immediate neighbours. We conducted playback experiments on African elephants, Loxodonta africana, in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, to determine the extent to which adult female elephants, which have a highly fluid social system, can recognize others in the population through infrasonic contact calls. Female elephants could distinguish the calls of female family and bond group members from those of females outside of these categories; moreover, they could also discriminate between the calls of family units further removed than bond group members, on the basis of how frequently they encountered them. We estimated that subjects would have to be familiar with the contact calls of a mean of 14 families in the population (containing around 100 adult females in total), in order to perform these discriminations. Female elephants thus appear to have unusually extensive networks of vocal recognition, which may prove to be typical of long-lived species that have both fluid social systems and the means for long-distance vocal communication. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

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  • McComb et al. (2000) found elephants can discriminate between 12 different adult female contact calls and react differently based on encounter frequency; authors estimated familiarity with approximately 100 adult females, suggesting a large capacity to retain vocalizations.

    “McComb et al. (2000) found that elephants can discriminate between 12 different adult female contact calls and react differently based on how frequently they encounter the associated family groups.”

    From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as McComb et al., 2000

  • McComb et al. (2000) found elephants responded to the vocalization of a deceased family member after 23 months and to a transferred family member after 12 years, suggesting long-term memory of these vocalizations.

    “this study found that elephants responded to the vocalization of a deceased family member after 23 months, and to the vocalization of a family member who had transferred to another social group after 12 years”

    From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as McComb et al., 2000

  • African savanna elephants can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals from vocalizations and seismic alarm calls.

    “African savanna elephants can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals from both vocalizations (McComb et al., 2000), as well as seismic alarm calls (O'Connell-Rodwell et al., 2007).”

    From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as McComb et al., 2000

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
McComb, K., Moss, C., Sayialel, S., & Baker, L.
Affiliations
African Wildlife Foundation (KE)
ORCID
Venue
Animal Behaviour
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2000-06
Volume
59
Issue
6
Pages
1103-1109
ISSN
0003-3472 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1006/anbe.2000.1406
OpenAlex
W2097515319
Cited by
348
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 12
FWCI
4.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Animal Behaviour (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Nuffield Foundation
  • Royal Society
  • Tusk Trust
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  • Natural Environment Research Council
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
Loxodonta africana, voice recognition, acoustic communication, social learning, family groups, playback experiments, Amboseli National Park

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