Operant control and call usage learning in African elephants
Open accessAbstract
Elephants exhibit remarkable vocal plasticity, and case studies reveal that individuals of African savannah (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants are capable of vocal production learning. Surprisingly, however, little is known about contextual learning (usage and comprehension learning) in elephant communication. Usage learning can be demonstrated by training animals to vocalize in an arbitrary (cue-triggered) context. Here we show that adult African savannah elephants (n = 13) can vocalize in response to verbal cues, reliably producing social call types such as the low-frequency rumble, trumpets and snorts as well as atypical sounds using various mechanisms, thus displaying compound vocal control. We further show that rumbles emitted upon trainer cues differ significantly in structure from rumbles triggered by social contexts of the same individuals (n = 6). Every form of social learning increases the complexity of a communication system. In elephants, we only poorly understand their vocal learning abilities and the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Among other research, this calls for controlled learning experiments in which the prerequisite is operant/volitional control of vocalizations. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Stoeger, A. S., & Baotic, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Stoeger, Angela S.
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2021-09-06
- Volume
- 376
- Issue
- 1836
- Pages
- 20200254-20200254
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC8419571
- OpenAlex
- W3197952482
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 2.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Austrian Science Fund (P 31034)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Keywords
- African savannah elephant, Loxodonta africana, vocal learning, operant control, trumpet, Snort, vocal plasticity, animal communication, social learning, vocal control
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Conditioning, Operant, Elephants, Female, Learning, Male, Social Behavior, Vocalization, Animal
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