Home Nature Pleased to meet you! Discovered: the complex ways elephants welcome friends—from waving their tails to trumpeting and ear flapping—and even roaring

Pleased to meet you! Discovered: the complex ways elephants welcome friends—from waving their tails to trumpeting and ear flapping—and even roaring

Nature — 07/06/2024

Hellos accompanied by waves, handshakes, or even embraces are typical human greetings.

Greeting behaviours include roaring, tail wagging, trunk swinging and approaching the other elephant backwards

You might be surprised to hear that elephants do the same thing.Elephants in Africa greet one another with a combination of vocalizations and gestures, according to researchers. This includes rumbling sounds accompanied by ear flapping and trumpeting sounds accompanied by ear spreading.A group of researchers from the University of Vienna examined 89 greeting events including 1,282 behaviors (including both vocalizations and physical movements) in a group of elephants that were kept in a semi-captive environment in Zimbabwe.

The scientists found that the methods of communication used by the elephants during greetings varied depending on whether the other elephant was looking at them

In addition to roaring and wagging the tail, other greeting behaviors included swinging the trunk and coming up to the other elephant in reverse.Elephants in Africa greet one another with a mix of vocalizations and body language, according to researchers. This includes rumbling sounds accompanied by ear flapping and trumpeting sounds accompanied by ear spreading.In a group of elephants in Zimbabwe that were kept in semi-captivity, researchers from the University of Vienna examined 89 greeting events that involved 1,282 behaviors, including both vocalizations and physical movements.

Researchers have discovered that African elephants greet each other by combining vocalisations and gestures together, such as rumbles with ear flapping or trumpeting with ear spreading

In a group of elephants in Zimbabwe who were kept in a semi-captive environment, researchers from the University of Vienna examined 89 greeting events that involved 1,282 behaviors, including both vocalizations and physical movements.The majority of greetings consisted of a combination of rumble and ear flapping, according to the researchers. However, this was more commonly utilized by females than males.

A team from the University of Vienna analysed 89 greeting events consisting of 1,282 behaviours ¿ a combination of physical actions and vocalisations ¿ in a herd of semi-captive elephants in Zimbabwe

Elephаnts mаy rely оn their sense оf smell tо greet оne аnоther, since they fоund excrement, urine, аnd secretiоns frоm а sweаt glаnd thаt is specific tо the species in 71% оf greetings.Elephants’ ways of greeting one another changed based on whether or not the other elephant was staring at them, according to the researchers.When they felt watched, they tended to spread their ears wider, reach for their trunks, or swing their trunks more, but when they weren’t, they were more likely to make noise by flapping their ears or slapping their necks, or even touch the person with their trunk.