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A study by researchers at the University of St Andrews and published in Current Biology reveals that African elephants are able to understand human gesture of pointing without having received prior training. This makes them the first animal species to have this ability.
In reaching this conclusion, the scientists conducted an experiment in which several elephants had to choose between two buckets based on gestural indications of a caretaker, who pointed his finger head that hid the bait . The specimens, from a pool of Zimbabwe, had been trained to respond to voice prompts, not visual, but all matched to the first.
The authors conclude that interpreting the movements of other members of their species, defined as deictic communication, is a natural part of social interaction in wild herds. They suggest that the human gesture of pointing fingers equals signs they do with the tube.
This tendency to attribute communicative intentions is a favorable feature in an animal, they argue, and could explain why the man has managed to tame elephants and establish a close link with them, despite being potentially dangerous and difficult to handle due to its large size.
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