Did you know that elephants are more like people than immediately meets the eye? Not only are humans and elephants both very social species, but they each greet others in a variety of ways. A study based on observations of African Savannah elephants in the Jafuta Reserve in Zimbabwe provides new insight into the gestures they use in greetings, including how greetings differ depending on factors such as their sex and whether they are looking at each other.
“Elephants often separate and reunite, meeting after hours, days or months apart,” said Vesta Eleuteri, lead author of the study. Female elephants of different family groups might have strong social bonds with each other. When these groups meet, they engage in complicated greeting ceremonies to advertise and strengthen their social bond. Male elephants have weaker social bonds, and their greetings may serve more to ease possible risky interaction. They greet mainly by smelling each other, reaching with their trunks.
Elephants may greet by making gestures intended to be seen, like spreading the ears or showing their rump (臀部), or with gestures producing distinct sounds like flapping the ears forward, or with tactile (触觉的) gestures involving touching the other elephant. They preferred using visual gestures when their partner was looking at them, while tactile ones when they were not.
Elephants might also wee (小便) or poop (大便) during greetings to express how they’re feeling, Ms Eleuteri said. “They do this due to the excitement of seeing each other,” she added. “But the fact that the elephants often moved their tails to the side or waggled their tails when they wee or pee suggests they may be inviting the recipients to smell them. Maybe they don’t need to tell each other how they’re doing, as they can smell it.”
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