African Elephants Can Use Human Pointing Cues to Find Hidden Food

Abstract

How animals gain information from attending to the behavior of others has been widely studied, driven partly by the importance of referential pointing in human cognitive development [1-4], but species differences in reading human social cues remain unexplained. One explanation is that this capacity evolved during domestication [5, 6], but it may be that only those animals able to interpret human-like social cues were successfully domesticated. Elephants are a critical taxon for this question: despite their longstanding use by humans, they have never been domesticated [7]. Here we show that a group of 11 captive African elephants, seven of them significantly as individuals, could interpret human pointing to find hidden food. We suggest that success was not due to prior training or extensive learning opportunities. Elephants successfully interpreted pointing when the experimenter's proximity to the hiding place was varied and when the ostensive pointing gesture was visually subtle, suggesting that they understood the experimenter's communicative intent. The elephant's native ability in interpreting social cues may have contributed to its long history of effective use by man.

Sea lions’ (Zalophus californianus) use of human pointing gestures as referential cues

“…This may have facilitated elbow point following by reducing the conflict between the different potential cues (i.e., pointing elbow and hand). Such interference might also explain why chimpanzees (Povinelli et al, 1997), dogs (Lakatos et al, 2009;Soproni et al, 2002), and elephants (Smet & Byrne, 2013) performed below the level of chance with a cross-elbow point cue (i.e., elbow protuberance could interfere with the index finger on the midline of the body, pointing at the opposite target). The sea lions also used gaze as a directional cue, as do dogs (Hare et al, 1998;Miklosi, Polgardi, Topal, Csanyi, 1998), dolphins (Pack & Herman, 2004), fur seals (Schuemann & Call, 2004), and chimpanzees (Barth, Reaux, & Povinelli, 2005;Povinelli et al, 1997;Povinelli, Bierschwale, & Cech, 1999).…”

“…The sea lions also used gaze as a directional cue, as do dogs (Hare et al, 1998;Miklosi, Polgardi, Topal, Csanyi, 1998), dolphins (Pack & Herman, 2004), fur seals (Schuemann & Call, 2004), and chimpanzees (Barth, Reaux, & Povinelli, 2005;Povinelli et al, 1997;Povinelli, Bierschwale, & Cech, 1999). This ability seems to be restricted: horses (Proops et al, 2010), goats (Kaminski et al, 2005), wolves (Udell et al, 2012), a gray seal (Shapiro et al, 2003), and elephants (Smet & Byrne, 2013) failed. A possible explanation could be that the species that were unsuccessful in this task have poor eyesight, which does not allows them to perceive this very subtle cue (ShyanNorwalt, Peterson, Milankow King, Staggs, & Dale, 2010, in Smet & Byrne, 2013.…”

“…This ability seems to be restricted: horses (Proops et al, 2010), goats (Kaminski et al, 2005), wolves (Udell et al, 2012), a gray seal (Shapiro et al, 2003), and elephants (Smet & Byrne, 2013) failed. A possible explanation could be that the species that were unsuccessful in this task have poor eyesight, which does not allows them to perceive this very subtle cue (ShyanNorwalt, Peterson, Milankow King, Staggs, & Dale, 2010, in Smet & Byrne, 2013. We also suggest that sensitivity to human head orientation could have been enhanced in the tested sea lions because of the importance of visual contact during interactions with the caretakers (e.g., during shows, sea lions have learnt to respond to a caretaker only when being in visual contact with him/her).…”

“…However, this hypothesis has been countered by other findings: human-socialized undomesticated individuals, such as wolves (Canis lupus; Udell, Dorey, & Wynne, 2008;Udell, Spencer, Dorey, & Wynne, 2012), African elephants (Loxodonta africana; Smet & Byrne, 2013), dolphins (Tursiops truncatus; Pack & Herman, 2004, 2007Tschudin, Call, Dunbar, Harris, & van der Elst, 2001), fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus, Schuemann & Call, 2004) and a gray seal (Halichoerus grypus, Shapiro, Janik, & Slater, 2003) have also been shown to be very successful, some not far from a dog's level of performance. Great apes are generally unskillful (e.g., see Povinelli, Reaux, Bierschwale, Allain, & Simon, 1997), but recently Lyn, Russel, and Hopkins (2010) showed that chimpanzees and bonobos raised in socio-linguistically rich environments perform much better than chimpanzees raised in standard laboratory housing.…”

“…These findings suggest a complementary hypothesis: in some species, rich daily interactions with and exposure to human gestural communication can be sufficient for correctly interpreting pointing cues. This could be especially the case for species that have native ability in attending to and exploiting social cues (Smet & Byrne, 2013).…”