Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Communication

Communication

Communication between two animals occurs when one animal transmits an information signal that causes a change in the animal that receives the information. Organisms communicate with one another in a host of different ways. Signals can be auditory, chemical, visual, tactile, or a combination of these. Communication is a critical behavioral adaptation that promotes survival, growth, and reproduction.

Nonconscious Mimicry

Nonconscious Mimicry

Nonconscious mimicry occurs when individuals alter their mannerisms to match the behaviors and expressions of those nearby, without intention.

Language

Language

Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...

Therapeutic Communication

Therapeutic Communication

Communication is a lifelong learning process. Through therapeutic communication, nurses can collect relevant assessment data, provide education and counseling, and interact during nursing interventions. Sending and receiving messages occur through verbal and nonverbal communication techniques and can happen separately or simultaneously.
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...

Hedgehog Signaling Pathway

Hedgehog Signaling Pathway

The Hedgehog gene (Hh) was first discovered due to its control of the growth of disorganized, hair-like bristles phenotype in Drosophila, much like hedgehog spines. Hh plays a crucial role in the development of organs and the maintenance of homeostasis in both invertebrates and vertebrates. However, while Drosophila has only one Hh protein, mammals have multiple functional Hedgehog proteins - Sonic (Shh), Desert (Dhh), and Indian Hedgehog (Ihh). All of these homologous proteins have adapted to...

Imprinting

Imprinting

Behavioral imprinting is observed in some newborn animals and occurs when they develop strong and specific attachments to another animal (usually a parent) following brief, early-life exposures. Offspring imprint onto parents within a brief period after birth or hatching; this time window is called the critical period. Once imprinting occurs, the bond established between the parents and their offspring is usually long-lasting.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The Forms and Structures of Chimpanzee Algae Fishing.

American journal of primatology·2026

Same author

Postural Infant Carrying Adaptations by Wild Eastern Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) With Limb Disabilities.

American journal of primatology·2026

Same author

Identifying practical pathways from animal culture theory to conservation practice.

Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·2026

Same author

Local specialists' experience and skills in animal behaviour studies: insights from wild chimpanzee field assistants.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026

Same author

Flexible branches in the primate family tree?

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2025

Same author

Do Asian elephants plan for mutually-exclusive outcomes?

Animal cognition·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 13, 2025

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Published on: January 26, 2024

Investigating intentionality in elephant gestural communication.

Vesta Eleuteri¹, Lucy Bates², Yvonne Nyaradzo Masarira³

¹Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Royal Society Open Science

|July 31, 2025

Summary

Elephants exhibit goal-directed intentionality in communication, using a wide range of gestures to convey their intentions. This complex communication, similar to apes, shows elephants assess the effectiveness of their signals.

Keywords:

elephant elephant gesture gestural communication intentional communication language

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Investigating Vocal Information Representation in Small Primates and Its Alteration by Psychiatric Disorders Using Noninvasive EEG

Author Spotlight: Investigating Vocal Information Representation in Small Primates and Its Alteration by Psychiatric Disorders Using Noninvasive EEG

Published on: July 26, 2024

Computer-Generated Animal Model Stimuli

Computer-Generated Animal Model Stimuli

Published on: July 29, 2007

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Sep 13, 2025

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Published on: January 26, 2024

Author Spotlight: Investigating Vocal Information Representation in Small Primates and Its Alteration by Psychiatric Disorders Using Noninvasive EEG

Author Spotlight: Investigating Vocal Information Representation in Small Primates and Its Alteration by Psychiatric Disorders Using Noninvasive EEG

Published on: July 26, 2024

Computer-Generated Animal Model Stimuli

Computer-Generated Animal Model Stimuli

Published on: July 29, 2007

Area of Science:

Ethology
Animal Communication
Cognitive Ethology

Background:

Goal-directed intentionality is a key feature of language, involving audience awareness, persistence, and signal adaptation.
While observed in some non-primate gestures and extensively in apes, its presence across multiple gestures in non-primate species remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether savannah elephants utilize a diverse repertoire of gestures with goal-directed intentionality.
To determine if elephants demonstrate audience directedness, persistence, and elaboration in their communicative gestures.

Main Methods:

Semi-captive elephants were presented with desired and undesired items.
Communicative gestures were recorded when experimenters met, partially met, or failed to meet the elephants' goals.
Analysis focused on audience directedness, persistence, and elaboration of 38 distinct gesture types.

Main Results:

Elephants used 38 gesture types predominantly when a visually attentive experimenter was present, confirming audience directedness.
Gesture persistence increased when goals were partially met compared to fully met.
Elephants elaborated their gestures following communicative failure, indicating adaptive signaling.

Conclusions:

Savannah elephants demonstrate goal-directed intentionality across a wide array of gestures, akin to apes.
Elephants actively assess the communicative success of their gestures, highlighting sophisticated cognitive abilities.