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Secret Language of Elephants: 60 Minutes

by TimPhelan
23 replies
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I found this episode that was on a few months ago. Scientists are starting to understand the language that elephants use to communicate. One scene from this shows a type of funeral procession after a young elephant dies! Very intelligent creatures.

  • Profile picture of the author dgridley
    I think most animals are more intelligent than we realize.. and wise.

    Sez one elephant to the other, "Hey, Buddy! Whatcha got in the trunk?"
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  • Profile picture of the author TLTheLiberator
    Very interesting Tim.

    I keep hearing that dolphins are really smart and if they had disposable thumbs, they'd try to give us a run for our money.

    Have you ever seen dolphins hunt together??

    It's quite a sight.

    All The Best!

    TL
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I watched the elephant segment on TV and I was mesmerized. Other species that we know have wide communication skills are whales, dolphins, chimps, apes... The list keeps growing not becuase the animals change but because we have started to understand the languages exist.

      Have you seen the video of the crow that takes a piece of wire and bends a hook on one end so he can fish a piece of food from a jar? Pretty amazing.
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      • Profile picture of the author dgridley
        Octopi are also incredibly smart..


        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I watched the elephant segment on TV and I was mesmerized. Other species that we know have wide communication skills are whales, dolphins, chimps, apes... The list keeps growing not becuase the animals change but because we have started to understand the languages exist.

        Have you seen the video of the crow that takes a piece of wire and bends a hook on one end so he can fish a piece of food from a jar? Pretty amazing.
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      • Profile picture of the author TimPhelan
        I don't think I have seen that one Kay. Yes, sounds amazing.

        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I watched the elephant segment on TV and I was mesmerized. Other species that we know have wide communication skills are whales, dolphins, chimps, apes... The list keeps growing not becuase the animals change but because we have started to understand the languages exist.

        Have you seen the video of the crow that takes a piece of wire and bends a hook on one end so he can fish a piece of food from a jar? Pretty amazing.
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    • Profile picture of the author dgridley
      I think what you're meaning to say is "opposable" thumbs, not disposable.

      Originally Posted by TLTheLiberator View Post

      Very interesting Tim.

      I keep hearing that dolphins are really smart and if they had disposable thumbs, they'd try to give us a run for our money.

      Have you ever seen dolphins hunt together??

      It's quite a sight.

      All The Best!

      TL
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by dgridley View Post

        I think what you're meaning to say is "opposable" thumbs, not disposable.
        But they probably swim better without them! I mean opposable thumbs really have to work against something else and even then you need to get them to what you are dealing with. In our case, the other fingers, and arms. So maybe dolphins would prefer them to be both, almost like a lizard's tail.

        Just saying...

        Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author TimPhelan
      Haven't seen them hunt together but saw them look in a mirror and realize it's themselves not another dolphin. Supposedly dolphins are one of the few animals who realize this.

      Originally Posted by TLTheLiberator View Post

      Very interesting Tim.

      I keep hearing that dolphins are really smart and if they had disposable thumbs, they'd try to give us a run for our money.

      Have you ever seen dolphins hunt together??

      It's quite a sight.

      All The Best!

      TL
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      • Profile picture of the author dgridley
        Even I sometimes have trouble looking in the mirror and realizing it's "me".. my, how I've aged!

        Originally Posted by TimPhelan View Post

        Haven't seen them hunt together but saw them look in a mirror and realize it's themselves not another dolphin. Supposedly dolphins are one of the few animals who realize this.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King

          It's an old video - but fascinating.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by TimPhelan View Post

        Haven't seen them hunt together but saw them look in a mirror and realize it's themselves not another dolphin. Supposedly dolphins are one of the few animals who realize this.
        Dolphins, apes and man are the only known animals to recognize themselves in a mirror. It's a good test of self-awareness.

        Here's an amazing video of orcas (which are actually dolphins) teaching colabrative hunting to their young. Notice how the orcas peek out of the water and check out the seal.

        Also, see how they team up to create the waves...But the most amazing thing is, this is just a training session for their young...Watch at the end of the video, after the orcas sweep the seal off the ice, they put the seal back on the ice after they're done training:


        There are more videos about this event on Youtube...
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Thanks for this one, Tim. Don't know how much more I can add after my other thread other than most animals do communicate on levels that we don't catch.

    disposable thumbs, LOL. I think I'll keep mine thanks - seems not much else to distinguish me from an alternate life form.
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  • Profile picture of the author dapwalvekar
    Which language elephant know you know about that?
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Yeah, when I was younger I would hear this theory and that about how the minds of animals were different, etc... I kept dismissing them all as HOGWASH! THEN, I figured! WAIT, WAIT, I GOT IT! Humans are the only ones that actually MAKE tools. After all, the otters, seagulls, etc... Use what is there. BZZZT! WRONG! I saw chimps actually fashioning tools. Like what that crow did. IMAGINE, if they communicated a bit better, and thought more about hunting, I bet the other primates would give human tribes a run for their money.

    And YEAH, could you imagine if dolphins had the dexterity of humans and the ability to go on land(though that wouldn't be a stretch if they could walk)? They'd probably kick us off the planet.

    But now they live in the oceans so freely polluted by humans, and just have to tolerate it. I hated it a few years ago when they had a lot of garbage on about dolphins biting and hurting people. They acted like they were dangerous, etc... HECK, I call that self defense! I mean people from all over holding your dorsal fin, and doing WHO KNOWS WHAT to you, to take them someplace? Do something similar to almost any other creature, and it is animal abuse. OK, we do the same to horses, but even THEY are dangerous until they are "broken".

    Dolphins have been known to save people in the wild, and just THAT should be reason to treat them better. So many animals are looked at as dangerous, or just good for food, and it is nice to see one that even seems to care.

    I won't lie, I like albacore. But I would have quit it if they swam with dolphins, like yellow fin tuna. Since yellow fin tuna, and dolphins swim together, fishermen end up often catching some dolphins with the yellow fin tuna. Supposedly, they now have doors the dolphins COULD swim through, but nothing is perfect. Dolphins can get tangled and drown.

    BTW thanks for the videos. I only watched the one with the crow. I might have already seen the others. Yeah, Octopi are supposed to be pretty smart too. For the record, I don't eat calamari either. ;D

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      if they communicated a bit better
      But maybe they don't want to communicate with humans??

      We think of ourselves as top of the food chain and as the dominant species - but aren't we the only species that permanently damage our environment?

      Being at the top of the food chain carries the responsibility of not damaging the species that make up the food chain. If the balance of the food chain is disrupted - in the end, we starve.:rolleyes:
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        But maybe they don't want to communicate with humans??
        I meant with one another! They are in often in SMALL groups, territorial, communicating with the small group, etc... Apparently they teach in the old way, families or one on one. Imagine if they could convey it by writting, or were in larger groups, etc...

        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        We think of ourselves as top of the food chain and as the dominant species - but aren't we the only species that permanently damage our environment?

        Being at the top of the food chain carries the responsibility of not damaging the species that make up the food chain. If the balance of the food chain is disrupted - in the end, we starve.:rolleyes:
        Yeah, that is one thing. NOTHING lasts forever. Heck, some small communities even of HUMANS are having children with weird defects because so many are so closely related. So you can't just kill a group down to 20 and say they are safe if they get back to 20,000 say. It just isn't the same.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author dgridley
    I don't consider myself at the top of the food chain until I can walk into the grocery store and not have to budget down to the penny.. you don't see lions worrying about that! Kill it and eat it, sez the King of the Jungle..
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  • Profile picture of the author peterj
    Perhaps the question of intelligence comes down to who is measuring it and by what stantards.

    All the different species on this planet inhabit the same "world" but each species also inhabits and is perfectly adapted to its own individual "world".

    Imagine if you were an a different animal-

    Jeeze, look at these things, they hate each other, kill for the thrill, poison evrything for the sake of pleasure and then have the arrogance to ro assume it is we who lack intelligence.

    The only time there has been or ever will be a "golden age" is when modern man was absent from it.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by peterj View Post

      Imagine if you were an a different animal-

      Jeeze, look at these things, they hate each other, kill for the thrill, poison evrything for the sake of pleasure and then have the arrogance to ro assume it is we who lack intelligence.

      The only time there has been or ever will be a "golden age" is when modern man was absent from it.
      MAN, I thought the SAME thing!

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by peterj View Post

        Perhaps the question of intelligence comes down to who is measuring it and by what stantards.

        All the different species on this planet inhabit the same "world" but each species also inhabits and is perfectly adapted to its own individual "world".

        Imagine if you were an a different animal-

        Jeeze, look at these things, they hate each other, kill for the thrill, poison evrything for the sake of pleasure and then have the arrogance to ro assume it is we who lack intelligence.

        The only time there has been or ever will be a "golden age" is when modern man was absent from it.
        Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

        MAN, I thought the SAME thing!

        Steve
        Actually animals DO hate each other and nature isn't kind or foregiving.

        Male lions will kill all the cubs when they take over a pride. Male bears will also kill cubs...Both kill so the females will go into heat sooner so they can mate.

        And there's a lot of evidence that chimps are much more violent than humans, with a much higher murder rate.

        Almost all mammal mothers will abondon their young if anything is physically wrong with them, or if the mother smells or senses any illness.

        Virtually all carnivores are very territorial and will fight and kill any other predator that enters their territory, including animals of their own species.

        Orcas will kill white sharks and only eat their liver. They will also kill grey whales and only eat their tongue, wasting the rest of the whale. Dolphins can also be very violent to others in their pod.

        Many female spiders will kill and eat the male after mating.

        Mother Nature can be a bitch...
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        • Profile picture of the author Roaddog
          I am always amazed at the fact that.. people.. are amazed that animals are smart.

          The ..gotta be careful here. Lets say.. the CEO of nature.. was pretty smart, not giving overinflated egos to animals.
          They don't go around thinking they are smarter than they actually are.

          One of the oldest stories I remember that really got me interested in how animals can be quite intelligent was Pelorus Jack..had to look it up..has been decades. He was a dolphin and may not be as well known in the States as S. Africa and Australia and N.Z., but I lived in Oz and S. Africa when I was a wee tyke and probably heard the tale from some crusty old character back then.
          This Wiki story is actually pretty condensed and would be well worth looking up.

          One of my favorite sayings is about the bumble bee, who by all known aviation "laws" known to man, shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee is ignorant of this fact, so goes ahead and flies anyway.

          I have always had a love and respect of animals for as long as I can remember.

          Except for Llamas..hate Llamas, long story.


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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Actually animals DO hate each other and nature isn't kind or foregiving.

          Male lions will kill all the cubs when they take over a pride. Male bears will also kill cubs...Both kill so the females will go into heat sooner so they can mate.
          Yeah, I think that is fairly well known. It IS bad. Sadly, almost every animal or insect does that kind of thing. Many male birds attack one another. I should know! The male robins attack my HOME! They apparently think their reflection is another bird. And I have spoke here about how africanized colonies get MORE african because african bees emerge earlier. so it BREEDS IN the traits that are least desired by people. ALL Bee queens attack other bee queens they can once they emerge. African bees, being at that point sooner, are more likely to take over so the next generation will have an even stronger trait.

          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          And there's a lot of evidence that chimps are much more violent than humans, with a much higher murder rate.
          Yeah, I don't know if you can accurately say why, etc...

          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Almost all mammal mothers will abondon their young if anything is physically wrong with them, or if the mother smells or senses any illness.
          Well, as sick as it sounds, that IS the idea behind darwinism. Heck, the other things you mentioned are also.

          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Virtually all carnivores are very territorial and will fight and kill any other predator that enters their territory, including animals of their own species.
          Yeah.

          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Orcas will kill white sharks and only eat their liver. They will also kill grey whales and only eat their tongue, wasting the rest of the whale. Dolphins can also be very violent to others in their pod.
          WOW, I never heard THAT. HOW do they eat just the shark's liver? A HUMAN would have a hard enough time with two arms, opposable thumbs, and even a KNIFE!

          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Many female spiders will kill and eat the male after mating.

          Mother Nature can be a bitch...
          YEAH she can. But you know what? They STILL don't go all over the place poisoning the planet, etc...

          It is a sad fact of life that everything hurts something else. Even tiny plants have a degree of harm. And if the animals and plants and insects weren't here, the smaller animals. Still, somehow the cycle has run on and humans have done more to stop it than anything else.

          And YEAH, insects could have done worse if they were left unchecked. RATS could have also. Perhaps part of the problem was this place WAS so close to paradise for humans, Who's to say that Eden didn't and doesn't exist RIGHT where they claimed? Maybe it is like hollywood in a way. A nice development where parts are now SO run down that they are slums.

          Steve
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