Elephants can use consciousness to communicate when communicating with people. At the same time, animals can use 38 types of gestures. This conclusion was given by scientists from Harvard Medical School. Their work results were published in the Open Science Magazine of the Royal Association (RSO).
The researchers studied African Savannah elephants in Victoria Waterfall National Park (Zimbabwe). They have tried to understand whether animals can use gestures for intentional communication – the intentional goal is recorded, previously only recorded in the primate species. Elephants show a tray with fruit, but they put it outside the animal that only approaches a tester with access to food.
Scientists have recorded 38 different gestures that elephants used exclusively with the presence of a person looking at them. Typically, animals pointed out the trunk towards the tray with apples. But if they were given an empty tray, they stopped gestures, moving to other forms of behavior. This, according to the researchers, can say that elephants consider this situation as the completion of the feeding session.
It is known that the elephants actively use their voices, touch and chemical signals to communicate, and also grasp the seismic vibrations. Moreover, it was previously indicated that they could transfer their names to each other. A new study added to a list of evidence and gestures as a meaningful communication tool.
Like humans, elephants are social, intelligent and long -standing animals. Their survival depends on strong connections in the group, and in this context, gestures become an important means of communication, the authors of the work concluded.