Saying “hi” can be complicated. That greeting’s meaning can be altered by the tone of your voice, the tilt of your head, your eye contact, and whether and how you raise and wave your hand. And the nature of a hand wave could differ if it’s directed toward one person, a group, someone new, or someone familiar.
It turns out that greetings — and communication in general — by elephants is equally nuanced. Over the past few decades, researchers have explored three “C’s” of elephant communication: combinations, complexity, and context. Careful elephant observations — both in the field and in zoos — has helped researchers compile an ethography — a description of various behaviors and sounds the large mammals make and what they appear to mean.
How do Elephants Greet Each Other?
Recently, a study demonstrated the way elephants combine sounds and motions. They observed elephants that separated, then reunited.
One of the most frequent combinations they saw was when two females would meet again. The elephants would emit a low-frequency rumbling sound, combined with, or followed by, ear flapping.
