Abstract
Factors influencing the abilities of different animals to use cooperative social cues from humans are still unclear, in spite of long-standing interest in the topic. One of the few species that have been found successful at using human pointing is the African elephant (Loxodonta africana); despite few opportunities for learning about pointing, elephants follow a pointing gesture in an object-choice task, even when the pointing signal and experimenter’s body position are in conflict, and when the gesture itself is visually subtle. Here, we show that the success of captive African elephants at using human pointing is not restricted to situations where the pointing signal is sustained until the time of choice: elephants followed human pointing even when the pointing gesture was withdrawn before they had responded to it. Furthermore, elephants rapidly generalised their response to a type of social cue they were unlikely to have seen before: pointing with the foot. However, unlike young children, they showed no sign of evaluating the ‘rationality’ of this novel pointing gesture according to its visual context: that is, whether the experimenter’s hands were occupied or not.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson JR, Sallaberry P, Barbier H (1995) Use of experimenter-given cues during object-choice tasks by capuchin monkeys. Anim Behav 49:201–208. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(95)80168-5
Anderson JR, Montant M, Schmitt D (1996) Rhesus monkeys fail to use gaze direction as an experimenter-given cue in an object-choice task. Behav Process 37:47–55
Behne T, Liszkowski U, Carpenter M, Tomasello M (2012) Twelve-month-olds’ comprehension and production of pointing. Br J Dev Psychol 30:359–375. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02043.x
Buttelmann D, Carpenter M, Call J, Tomasello M (2007) Enculturated chimpanzees imitate rationally. Dev Sci 10:F31–F38. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00630.x
Buttelmann D, Carpenter M, Call J, Tomasello M (2008) Rational tool use and tool choice in human infants and great apes. Child Dev 79:609–626. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01146.x
Call J, Tomasello M (1994) Production and comprehension of referential pointing by orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). J Comp Psychol 108:307–317
Gergely G, Bekkering H, Király I (2002) Rational imitation in preverbal infants. Nature 415:755. doi:10.1038/415755a
Gómez J-C (2007) Pointing behaviors in apes and human infants: a balanced interpretation. Child Dev 78:729–734
Hall NJ, Udell MAR, Dorey NR et al (2011) Megachiropteran bats (Pteropus) utilize human referential stimuli to locate hidden food. J Comp Psychol 125:341–346. doi:10.1037/a0023680
Hare B (2001) Can competitive paradigms increase the validity of experiments on primate social cognition? Anim Cogn 4:269–280. doi:10.1007/s100710100084
Hare B, Tomasello M (1999) Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) use human and conspecific social cues to locate hidden food. J Comp Psychol 113:173–177. doi:10.1037//0735-7036.113.2.173
Hare B, Tomasello M (2004) Chimpanzees are more skilful in competitive than in cooperative cognitive tasks. Anim Behav 68:571–581. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.11.011
Hare B, Brown M, Williamson C, Tomasello M (2002) The domestication of social cognition in dogs. Science 298:1634–1636
Hare B, Plyusnina I, Ignacio N et al (2005) Social cognitive evolution in captive foxes is a correlated by-product of experimental domestication. Curr Biol 15:226–230. doi:10.1016/j
Herman LM, Abichandani SL, Elhajj AN et al (1999) Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprehend the referential character of the human pointing gesture. J Comp Psychol 113:347–364
Hobaiter C, Leavens DA, Byrne RW (2013) Deictic Gesturing in Wild Chimpanzees, (Pan troglodytes)? Some possible cases. J Comp Psychol. doi:10.1037/a0033757
Hoppitt W, Laland KN (2013) Social learning: an introduction to mechanisms, methods, and models. Princeton University Press, Princeton, Oxford
Itakura S, Tanaka M (1998) Use of experimenter-given cues during object-choice tasks by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), and human infants (Homo sapiens). J Comp Psychol 112:119–126
Itakura S, Agnetta B, Hare B, Tomasello M (1999) Chimpanzee use of human and conspecific social cues to locate hidden food. Dev Sci 2:448–456. doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00089
Kaminski J, Riedel J, Call J, Tomasello M (2005) Domestic goats, Capra hircus, follow gaze direction and use social cues in an object choice task. Anim Behav 69:11–18. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.05.008
Kaminski J, Nitzschner M, Wobber V et al (2011) Do dogs distinguish rational from irrational acts? Anim Behav 81:195–203. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.10.001
Lair RC (1997) Gone astray—the care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Rome
Leavens DA, Hopkins WD (1998) Intentional communication by chimpanzees: a cross-sectional study of the use of referential gestures. Dev Psychol 34:813–822
Leavens DA, Hopkins WD (1999) The whole-hand point: the structure and function of pointing from a comparative perspective. J Comp Psychol 113:417–425
Leavens DA, Hopkins WD, Bard KA (1996) Indexical and referential pointing in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol 110:346–353
Lyn H, Russell JL, Hopkins WD (2010) The impact of environment on the comprehension of declarative communication in apes. Psychol Sci 21:360–365. doi:10.1177/0956797610362218
Miklósi Á, Soproni K (2006) A comparative analysis of animals’ understanding of the human pointing gesture. Anim Cogn 9:81–93. doi:10.1007/s10071-005-0008-1
Miklósi Á, Polgárdi R, Topál J, Csányi V (1998) Use of experimenter-given cues in dogs. Anim Cogn 1:113–121
Miklósi Á, Kubinyi E, Topál J et al (2003) A simple reason for a big difference: wolves do not look back at humans, but dogs do. Curr Biol 13:763–766. doi:10.1016/S
Miklósi Á, Pongrácz P, Lakatos G et al (2005) A comparative study of the use of visual communicative signals in interactions between dogs (Canis familiaris) and humans and cats (Felis catus) and humans. J Comp Psychol 119:179–186. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.119.2.179
Mulcahy NJ, Call J (2009) The performance of bonobos (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in two versions of an object-choice task. J Comp Psychol 123:304–309. doi:10.1037/a0016222
Mulcahy NJ, Hedge V (2012) Are great apes tested with an abject object-choice task? Anim Behav 83:313–321. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.11.019
Neiworth JJ, Burman MA, Basile BM, Lickteig MT (2002) Use of experimenter-given cues in visual co-orienting and in an object-choice task by a New World monkey species, cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). J Comp Psychol 116:3–11. doi:10.1037//0735-7036.116.1.3
Pack AA, Herman LM (2004) Bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprehend the referent of both static and dynamic human gazing and pointing in an object-choice task. J Comp Psychol 118:160–171. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.118.2.160
Peignot P, Anderson JR (1999) Use of experimenter-given manual and facial cues by gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) in an object-choice task. J Comp Psychol 113:253–260. doi:10.1037//0735-7036.113.3.253
Pfungst O (1911) Clever Hans (the horse of Mr von Osten): a contribution to experimental animal and human psychology. Henry Holt, New York
Plotnik JM, Pokorny JJ, Keratimanochaya Titiporn, Webb C et al (2013) Visual cues given by humans are not sufficient for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to find hidden food. PLoS One 8:e61174
Poole JH, Granli PK (2009) ElephantVoices Gestures Database. http://www.elephantvoices.org
Poole JH, Granli PK (2011) Signals, gestures and behavior of African elephants. In: Moss CJ, Croze H, Lee PC (eds) Amboseli elephants. A long-term perspect. A long-lived mammal. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 109–124
Povinelli DJ, Davis DR (1994) Differences between chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and humans (Homo sapiens) in the resting state of the index finger: implications for pointing. J Comp Psychol 108:134–139
Povinelli DJ, Nelson KE, Boysen ST (1990) Inferences about guessing and knowing by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol 104:203–210
Povinelli DJ, Nelson KE, Boysen ST (1992) Comprehension of role reversal in chimpanzees: evidence of empathy? Anim Behav 43:633–640
Povinelli DJ, Bierschwale DT, Cech CG (1999) Comprehension of seeing as a referential act in young children, but not juvenile chimpanzees. Br J Dev Psychol 17:37–60. doi:10.1348/026151099165140
Proops L, Walton M, McComb K (2010) The use of human-given cues by domestic horses, Equus caballus, during an object choice task. Anim Behav 79:1205–1209. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.02.015
Scheumann M, Call J (2004) The use of experimenter-given cues by South African fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus). Anim Cogn 7:224–230. doi:10.1007/s10071-004-0216-0
Shapiro AD, Janik VM, Slater PJB (2003) A gray seal’s (Halichoerus grypus) responses to experimenter-given pointing and directional cues. J Comp Psychol 117:355–362. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.117.4.355
Smet AF, Byrne RW (2013) African elephants can use human pointing cues to find hidden food. Curr Biol 23:2033–2037. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.08.037
Soproni K, Miklósi Á, Topál J, Csányi V (2002) Dogs’ (Canis familaris) responsiveness to human pointing gestures. J Comp Psychol 116:27–34. doi:10.1037//0735-7036.116.1.27
Thorpe WH (1956) Learning and instinct in animals. Methuen, London
Tomasello M, Call J, Gluckman A (1997) Comprehension of novel communicative signs by apes and human children. Child Dev 68:1067–1080
Tomasello M, Carpenter M, Liszkowski U (2007) A new look at infant pointing. Child Dev 78:705–722. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01025.x
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Wild Horizons and its board of directors in Victoria Falls for granting us permission to work with the elephants; Z. Sibanda and staff at Wild Horizons for advice and assistance with practical aspects of running the study and R. Parry and J. Dawson of the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust for facilitation and logistical support on site. This research was carried out with funding from a departmental studentship from the School of Psychology and Neuroscience of the University of St Andrews, awarded to AFS.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical standard
The experiments described in this paper comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
10071_2014_772_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Supplementary material Online Resource 1 Supplementary results and figures. Supplementary fig. 1. Shows the mean duration of the unsustained pointing cue in Experiment 1. Supplementary fig. 2. The number of elephants that chose correctly on the first and last trials of each condition in Experiment 1. Supplementary fig. 3. The number of elephants that chose correctly on the first and last trials of each condition in Experiment 2. (DOCX 1255 kb)
Supplementary material Online Resource 2 Video clip from Experiment 1 showing a sustained whole-arm ipsilateral pointing trial (MPG 6290 kb)
Supplementary material Online Resource 3 Video clip from Experiment 1 showing an unsustained whole-arm ipsilateral pointing trial (MPG 5056 kb)
Supplementary material Online Resource 4 Video clip from Experiment 2 showing a ‘rational’ leg point trial (MPG 10732 kb)
Supplementary material Online Resource 5 Video clip from Experiment 2 showing an ‘irrational’ leg point trial (MPG 7612 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smet, A.F., Byrne, R.W. Interpretation of human pointing by African elephants: generalisation and rationality. Anim Cogn 17, 1365–1374 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0772-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0772-x