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ELEPHANTS never forget鈥攐r at least, they don鈥檛 forget their friends.
Research from Kenya shows that they can recognise the calls of over 100
individuals, even after several years apart.

Female African elephants have complex social networks and communicate via
low-pitched 鈥渃ontact calls鈥�. 鈥淭his is the call that says: `This is me,'鈥� says
behavioural ecologist Karen McComb from the University of Sussex. She and her
colleagues recorded the contact calls of elephants in Kenya鈥檚 Amboseli National
Park. After noting which elephants met often and which were strangers, they
played the calls back to 27 families to see what they did.

When the elephants knew the caller well, they called back. If they knew the
caller slightly, they listened but did nothing. But if the call was unfamiliar,
the elephants became agitated and defensive. They could recognise members of at
least 14 other families from their calls, which suggests that each elephant can
remember around 100 other adults.

The recognition also seems to be long-lasting. When the call of an elephant
that had died two years earlier was played to her family members, they called
back and approached the sound.