The First 'Google Translate' For Elephants Debuts (scientificamerican.com) 50
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Elephants possess an incredibly rich repertoire of communication techniques, including hundreds of calls and gestures that convey specific meanings and can change depending on the context. Different elephant populations also exhibit culturally learned behaviors unique to their specific group. Elephant behaviors are so complex, in fact, that even scientists may struggle to keep up with them all. Now, to get the animals and researchers on the same page, a renowned biologist who has been studying endangered savanna elephants for nearly 50 years has co-developed a digital elephant ethogram, a repository of everything known about their behavior and communication.
[Joyce Poole, co-founder and scientific director of ElephantVoices, a nonprofit science and conservation organization, and co-creator of the new ethogram] built the easily searchable public database with her husband and research partner Petter Granli after they came to realize that scientific papers alone would no longer cut it for cataloging the discoveries they and others were making. The Elephant Ethogram currently includes more than 500 behaviors depicted through nearly 3,000 annotated videos, photographs and audio files. The entries encompass the majority, if not all, of typical elephant behaviors, which Poole and Granli gleaned from more than 100 references spanning more than 100 years, with the oldest records dating back to 1907. About half of the described behaviors came from the two investigators' own studies and observations, while the rest came from around seven other leading savanna elephant research teams.
While the ethogram is primarily driven by Poole and Granli's observations, "there are very few, if any, examples of behaviors described in the literature that we have not seen ourselves," Poole points out. The project is also just beginning, she adds, because it is meant to be a living catalog that scientists actively contribute to as new findings come in. Poole and Granli believe the exhaustive, digitized Elephant Ethogram is the first of its kind for any nonhuman wild animal. The multimedia-based nature of the project is important, Poole adds, because with descriptions based only on the written word, audio files or photographs, "it is hard to show the often subtle differences in movement that differentiate one behavior from another." Now that the project is online, Poole hopes other researchers will begin contributing their own observations and discoveries, broadening the database to include cultural findings from additional savanna elephant populations and unusual behaviors Poole and Granli might have missed.
[Joyce Poole, co-founder and scientific director of ElephantVoices, a nonprofit science and conservation organization, and co-creator of the new ethogram] built the easily searchable public database with her husband and research partner Petter Granli after they came to realize that scientific papers alone would no longer cut it for cataloging the discoveries they and others were making. The Elephant Ethogram currently includes more than 500 behaviors depicted through nearly 3,000 annotated videos, photographs and audio files. The entries encompass the majority, if not all, of typical elephant behaviors, which Poole and Granli gleaned from more than 100 references spanning more than 100 years, with the oldest records dating back to 1907. About half of the described behaviors came from the two investigators' own studies and observations, while the rest came from around seven other leading savanna elephant research teams.
While the ethogram is primarily driven by Poole and Granli's observations, "there are very few, if any, examples of behaviors described in the literature that we have not seen ourselves," Poole points out. The project is also just beginning, she adds, because it is meant to be a living catalog that scientists actively contribute to as new findings come in. Poole and Granli believe the exhaustive, digitized Elephant Ethogram is the first of its kind for any nonhuman wild animal. The multimedia-based nature of the project is important, Poole adds, because with descriptions based only on the written word, audio files or photographs, "it is hard to show the often subtle differences in movement that differentiate one behavior from another." Now that the project is online, Poole hopes other researchers will begin contributing their own observations and discoveries, broadening the database to include cultural findings from additional savanna elephant populations and unusual behaviors Poole and Granli might have missed.
Re: The First 'Google Translate' For Elephants Deb (Score:5, Insightful)
The cliques on this forum are fucking disgusting. It's like I am back in high school. The only difference is now it's all about ragging on people's political views. Didn't your mother ever teach you to stfu if you don't have something good to say. I mean, I could probably say some shit about your family but I thought a forum for nerds could have, you know, people with some critical thoughts though some compassion might be nice too. Literally the article is about understanding another species and the potential for compassion we have while you try to take us back to the stone age. Grow the fuck up.
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Those posts are all made by one or two people. At least one of which is on the payroll of the Russian government. Professional trolls seek to create and fuel social disharmony in America, and Slashdot is a sufficiently-prominent site to have earned their attention.
They just post a whole lot, to create the illusion that there are a lot more of them than there are.
Just ignore the noise.
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...Slashdot is a sufficiently-prominent site...
I'm a fan, but it's been a minute since the last "Slashdot effect". Based on your UID, you should know this.
Prominent? No. We're not part of the unwashed mass collective mindfuck.
What storage does it use? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What storage does it use? (Score:4, Funny)
Does that support data truncation?
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What can I throw at you?
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No, *TRUMPET*
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I hear they're using CVS for code storage, so it can all be in the trunk.
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Elephant SQL.
Long lifespan mammals (Score:4, Interesting)
Anything we can do to better understand mammals with long lifespans can really benefit us in understanding better the development of language and the balance that exists in the world. Whales and elephants are prime examples for us to better understand the universality of culture and language. Elephants buying their dead is even ritualistic, so at some point we may even have an answer to the universality of spirituality and religion.
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While this is true, is it the best place to invest the research? Pigs are much cheaper and much closer to humans in size and behavior: they're omnivorous, and they fit in MRI's and CAT scanners far more easily. Longer lifespans and single births may be closer to human among elephants, but given the choice, wouldn't it be better research to test a dozen pigs than one elephant?
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The elephant or the pig? (or even a dozen pigs?)
Re: Long lifespan mammals (Score:1)
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Elephants are among the few animals besides humans that have a clear sense of self. They at least appear to have ritualistic behavior. I'd say elephants and humans, behaviorally, have a lot more in common
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This is why the research is better and more beneficial but then again your final statement might be a bit too kind to most people. Most people might have more in common with pigs ;(
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Anything we can do to better understand mammals with long lifespans can really benefit us in understanding better the development of language and the balance that exists in the world.
Humans found balance. It's right there on the scale. In between instant gratification and deadly obesity.
(Sadly, we know how to prolong our life spans. We're just not as smart, as elephants.)
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Elephants buying their dead is even ritualistic.
What currency do elephants use when they buy their dead?
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Sorry. Phone typo. *face palm*. "Bury" but I hope you got that.
You do raise an interesting point though, I do think elephants have some concept of exchanges and this is discussed a bit in a TED Talk. How well that translates to market is a different question. I think monkeys have been documented using a basic form of monetary tender.
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It's interesting you say this. I think there are interesting assumptions about Elephant culture in having them say this. For one it means they have collective knowledge, as they would of likely had to share experiences to get the clearest picture that we are as you describe. It also requires that they have a level of emotion. It's one thing to fear something but lots of people fear things they don't understand. This requires a much more logical frame of mind that builds up from a series of event to create a
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"Whales and elephants are prime examples for us to better understand the universality of culture and language." Only by showing us that they don't have language or culture, and all human societies do.
And no, having a bunch of signals is not the same as human language, not even close.
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They will kill anything they feel like, whenever they want.
You would too if some weird animal kept murdering members of your species to steal their front teeth.
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If I was an elephant and I knew what humans did to my kin, I'd hunt ever last human down.
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But then I found out that it's all the result of rather harsh training, not an astonishing capacity for artistic expression.
Re: Elephants in China (Score:3)
the result of rather harsh training
So, just like any other liberal arts degree.
I do not see Google mentioned at all (Score:2)
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Now excuse me while I go put a bandaid on my hand so that I don't get any chlorox on it while I use a kleenex to wipe down the xerox machine.
This is great stuff (Score:2)
Not sure anyone noticed that part of the article yet but this resource for elephant communication is great stuff :)
Where's the "translate" button? (Score:2)
IIUC this is a catalog, not a version of Google babelfish. i.e. it's more like old Altavista than Google.
Re: Where's the "translate" button? (Score:1)
RonaCode (Score:2)
"Wow, so like everyone went home for almost a whole year? Damn. I mean, how bored were you?"
(Google Translate) "Well, you're probably not gonna believe this..."
I think not. (Score:3)
How's an elephant going to control a tiny smartphone, keyboard or touchpad? And everyone knows they're afraid of mice.
Now to the dolphins... (Score:2)
Because I want to know what that surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the 'Star Spangled Banner' really means... its probably nothing at all.
nope (Score:2)
Translate to Dutch... English... Esperanto... Estonian... Filipino, Nope, no elephant yet. Fake news. ;-)
What Dumbo Tells Jumbo (Score:2)
Never really thought about this (Score:3)
Elephants [wikipedia.org] show an ability to manufacture and use tools with their trunk and feet. Both wild and captive Asian elephants [wikipedia.org] (Elephas maximus) use branches to swat flies or scratch themselves.[74] [wikipedia.org] [75] [wikipedia.org] Eight of 13 captive Asian elephants, maintained under a naturalistic environment, modified branches and switched with the altered branch, indicating this species is capable of the more rare behaviour of tool manufacture. There were different styles of modification of the branches, the most common of which was holding the main stem with the front foot and pulling off a side branch or distal [wikipedia.org] end with the trunk. Elephants have been observed digging holes to drink water, then ripping bark from a tree, chewing it into the shape of a ball thereby manufacturing a "plug" to fill in the hole, and covering it with sand to avoid evaporation [wikipedia.org]. They would later go back to the spot to drink.
Asian elephants may use tools in insightful problem solving. A captive male was observed moving a box to a position where it could be stood upon to reach food that had been deliberately hung out of reach.[76] [wikipedia.org] [77] [wikipedia.org]
Elephants have also been known to drop large rocks onto an electric fence [wikipedia.org] to either ruin the fence or cut off the electricity.[78] [wikipedia.org]
One might dismiss the apparent tool-making/tool using behaviors as some sort of very complex hardwired instinct, but the bit about the waterhole is not only tool-making, it shows planning.
Fuck cookies (Score:2)