Wild Elephants Use 41 Different Gestures to Tell Others to "Move Away" or "Stop That"

Wild elephants use a diverse set of 41 gestures to communicate their intentions of either asking others to move away or to cease certain behaviors, according to a study published in Animal Cognition. These gestures involve movements of the trunk and ears, which are used in nearly 80 percent of instances. The elephants demonstrate a high level of social intelligence by looking at the recipient before gesturing, pausing to see if a response is forthcoming, and repeating the gesture if it doesn't elicit the desired reaction.

Lucy Bates, a co-author from the University of Portsmouth, noted that these findings suggest that gesturing could be a characteristic of highly intelligent animals with complex social lives. The study, which involved filming elephants in South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park and Marakele National Park, found that elephants used a wide range of gestures, with trunk and ear movements being the most common.

The researchers also observed that elephants were more likely to use touch or sound to communicate when the recipient was not facing them. The findings suggest that sophisticated gestural communication has evolved independently in elephants and other animals with complex social lives, possibly to help navigate relationships and resolve conflicts before they escalate into physical confrontations.