From: invalide@invalid.invalid   
      
   https://phys.org/news/2025-07-elephants-gesture-intention-commun   
   cate-desires.html   
      
   Humans have long mastered the art of expressing their goals and needs   
   through both language and gestures. A similar behavior is also observed   
   in non-human primates, who use complex gestures to convey what they   
   want, but does the use of deliberate gestures extend beyond primates to   
   other members of the animal kingdom?   
      
   A recent study provided the first-ever evidence that, in the presence of   
   a visually attentive audience, elephants are capable of using a wide   
   range of gestures to convey their desires.   
   ...   
   To test whether elephants intentionally gesture to communicate their   
   goals, the researchers presented 17 semi-captive African Savannah   
   elephants in Zimbabwe with two trays: one containing six apples (the   
   desired item) and the other empty (the non-desired item).   
      
   Their attempts to communicate with the experimenters were then recorded   
   across three different outcomes. The first scenario was when they   
   successfully communicated, and the experimenter gave the elephant all   
   six apples. The second was when their goals were not met, and they were   
   given the empty tray. The third was when their goals were partially met,   
   and they received only one apple from the tray.   
      
   During this entire process, it was observed that elephants displayed   
   clear goal-directed intentionality, as their gestures were directed only   
   towards an attentive human or the object they desired, never towards an   
   irrelevant object.   
      
   When their goals were not being met, the elephants got creative and came   
   up with new gestures to convey their message instead of repeating the   
   same actions.   
      
   Intentionality of communication is seen as a factor that distinguishes   
   human language from other forms of animal communication. Our words and   
   gestures are directed towards someone to achieve a certain goal, which   
   can be as simple as saying hello to more complex situations, such as   
   negotiating rent.   
      
   Scientists often categorize intentionality into different levels of   
   complexity. The simplest form is zero-order intentionality, referring to   
   reactions produced in response to stimuli such as pain or touch. The   
   next level is first-order, or goal-directed intentionality, where   
   communication is used deliberately to influence someone's behavior. The   
   most complex is second-order intentionality, where communication is   
   aimed at changing someone's mind.   
      
   While several studies have shown that non-human apes use gestures with   
   first-order intentionality, very little was known about similar behavior   
   in non-primates—until now.   
      
   Given the animals' complex social structures and advanced cognitive   
   abilities, the researchers chose to investigate their ability to gesture   
   with intentionality.   
      
   The researchers observed 38 different gesture types and a total of 313   
   gesture tokens—each individual instance of a gesture being used—from the   
   17 semi-captive elephants participating in the research.   
      
   The elephants used gestures to communicate their desire to get the   
   apples only when a visually attentive experimenter was present near them.   
      
   They were more likely to continue gesturing when their goal was only   
   partially met, such as receiving some, but not all, the apples, than   
   when they were fully satisfied. Furthermore, the elephants elaborated   
   their gesturing when their goal was not met, compared to when it was   
   fully met.   
      
   This study establishes the existence of goal-directed communication in   
   semi-captive elephants.   
   ...   
      
      
   https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.242203   
   Investigating intentionality in elephant gestural communication   
      
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