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Elephants manage tense encounters with more than loud calls or physical force. Research on wild African savannah elephants shows a flexible set of gestures used to make another elephant move away or stop a behavior. The animals checked whether a recipient was watching, changed the signal when visual attention was limited, waited for a reaction and sometimes persisted. Studies of semi-free-ranging Asian elephants also found more directed touch and vocal communication after distress. Together, these findings support a picture of elephants using visual, tactile and acoustic signals to reduce immediate tension, while falling short of proving that every dispute ends in reconciliation.
What elephant conflict resolution actually means
In elephant societies, a conflict can involve access to water, food, vegetation, space, a preferred social position or an unwanted behavior by another animal. “Resolving” such an encounter does not necessarily mean that the participants apologize, restore a relationship or reach a negotiated agreement in the human sense. It can simply mean that one elephant stops an action, backs away, changes direction or allows the immediate confrontation to end without escalation.
The strongest direct evidence comes from a 2026 study by Eleuteri and colleagues in Animal Cognition. The researchers observed wild African savannah elephants in two fenced South African populations, at Addo and Marakele national parks. They documented gestures during agonistic interactions—encounters involving threats, displacement or competition—and inferred two broad goals: “Move away” and “Stop behaviour.”
A separate 2014 study by Plotnik and colleagues examined 26 semi-free-ranging Asian elephants in six managed groups at a Thailand elephant camp. It did not track opponents after a dispute. Instead, it compared behavior after an elephant showed distress with matched-control periods. Directed physical affiliation and vocal communication increased after distress. The authors called this pattern “reassurance,” while noting that the causes of the initial distress were sometimes ambiguous.
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These studies address related but different questions. The South African work concerns goal-directed signals during agonistic interactions. The Thailand work concerns affiliative touch and calls after distress. Neither demonstrates a universal elephant conflict “language,” and the Thailand results are not direct proof that former opponents reconcile.
How the 2026 gesture study was conducted
Two wild populations, two resource settings
Eleuteri et al. studied African savannah elephants at Addo and Marakele national parks in South Africa. The populations shared much of their gesture repertoire, but the gestures used most frequently differed between sites. The ecological context also differed. Water was a prominent contested resource at Addo, while observations at Marakele included competition over reeds.
Because both populations were fenced and relatively high-density, elephants encountered one another often. That makes them useful settings for documenting repeated interactions, but it also limits how broadly the findings can be generalized. Behavior around a concentrated water source may not look identical to behavior in a low-density landscape with abundant alternatives.
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Forty-one gesture types from 32 actions
The study reported 41 gesture types derived from 32 gesture actions. A gesture type is an identified communicative form; an action is the underlying physical movement used to produce it. The number describes the repertoire observed in this study context, not a complete or universal elephant dictionary.
Gestures were part of agonistic exchanges rather than isolated displays. An elephant could direct a movement toward another individual, monitor the recipient and alter what it did next. The range of forms indicates that elephants do not rely on a single stereotyped threat signal whenever they want an interaction to end.
The two inferred goals
The researchers grouped the apparent purposes of gestures into two broad labels:
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- “Move away”: a request or directive for another elephant to increase distance or leave a contested position.
- “Stop behaviour”: a signal aimed at ending an action by the recipient, such as an unwelcome approach or other conduct that is provoking the interaction.
These labels describe the immediate practical outcome the signal appears designed to produce. They do not establish that elephants use human-like sentence structure, discuss past events or communicate abstract propositions.
Behavioral signs that gestures are goal-directed
Intentional communication cannot be observed directly; researchers infer it from how a signal is produced and adjusted. Eleuteri and colleagues identified several behavioral patterns that are consistent with first-order, goal-directed communication.
Audience checking
An elephant often checked the recipient before or while gesturing. Looking toward the target matters because it shows that the signal was directed at a particular audience rather than emitted without regard to who was present. Audience checking does not prove a complex theory of mind. It does show sensitivity to whether the relevant individual is available to receive the message.
Adjusting the modality to visual attention
Elephants changed the form of communication depending on whether the recipient appeared to be looking. A visual movement is more likely to work when the target can see it. If visual attention is absent, an elephant may use a different form or otherwise alter the interaction. This flexibility is one reason the authors describe the behavior as goal-directed rather than purely reflexive.
Waiting for a response
After signaling, elephants sometimes paused for the recipient’s reaction. Waiting creates an interactional sequence: signal, opportunity to respond and then a decision about what to do next. An animal that immediately repeats an action regardless of the recipient’s behavior would provide weaker evidence of communicative intent than one that monitors the outcome.
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When the first signal did not produce the desired change, some elephants persisted. Persistence can mean repeating a gesture, modifying it or continuing the exchange until the recipient moves or stops the relevant behavior. It is not evidence that every interaction ends peacefully; a failed signal can precede a stronger threat or physical escalation. It does show that the signal’s outcome mattered to the sender.
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How gestures can de-escalate an encounter
A likely interaction sequence can be described without treating it as a fixed script:
- A resource or action creates tension. Two elephants approach the same water access, compete over reeds or one animal objects to another’s behavior.
- The potential sender attends to the recipient. It checks where the other elephant is looking and whether a visual signal is likely to be noticed.
- A gesture communicates an immediate goal. The broad objective is to make the recipient move away or stop a behavior.
- The sender evaluates the result. It waits, watches and determines whether the recipient has changed position or conduct.
- The exchange either ends or continues. A successful response can terminate the encounter. An unsatisfactory response may lead to persistence, a changed signal or escalation.
This sequence can prevent some confrontations from becoming physical. A clear directive delivered before contact may allow the recipient to withdraw while preserving distance. However, the study did not establish that gestures always work, nor did it measure a universal success rate for conflict termination.
The role of touch and calls after distress
Findings from semi-free-ranging Asian elephants
Plotnik et al. observed 26 Asian elephants living in six managed groups at a Thailand elephant camp. The researchers compared periods following an elephant’s distress with matched-control observation periods. After distress, elephants showed more directed physical affiliation and more vocal communication than during the control periods.
Physical affiliation can include contact or proximity directed toward the distressed individual. Vocal communication adds an acoustic channel that can operate when an elephant is not facing the recipient or when vegetation, darkness or crowding reduces the usefulness of visual gestures. The combination suggests that elephant social responses are multimodal: touch and calls can complement what individuals see and do.
Why the authors used the word “reassurance”
The authors interpreted the increase in affiliation and vocal behavior as reassurance. That term captures a supportive social response after a disturbing event, not a demonstrated settlement between two opponents. The study’s distress triggers were sometimes ambiguous, so the researchers could not be certain what caused every initial reaction or whether every affiliative response had the same function.
For that reason, the Thailand findings should not be presented as direct evidence that an aggressor comforts its victim after a fight, or that elephants always repair relationships after conflict. They show that elephants increase directed touch and vocal communication in a post-distress context.
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How calls may complement gestures
Calls can carry information over distance and can attract attention when a recipient is not looking. Touch works at close range and may provide immediate social contact once animals are near one another. Gestures are especially useful when the recipient is watching. An elephant that combines channels can choose the one most likely to reach the intended audience, although the 2026 study specifically identifies intentional combinations of vocal and gestural signals as an important subject for future work rather than a settled conclusion.
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Several outcomes are easy to confuse:
- De-escalation: the immediate threat or unwanted behavior stops, or one elephant moves away.
- Avoidance: an elephant changes direction or keeps distance without further exchange.
- Reassurance: companions provide touch or calls after distress.
- Reconciliation: former opponents resume affiliative behavior after a conflict.
The South African study provides evidence relevant to de-escalation and avoidance because its inferred goals are “Move away” and “Stop behaviour.” The Thailand study provides evidence relevant to reassurance after distress. Neither study, on its own, establishes reconciliation between conflict opponents.
Reconciliation would require tracking identified opponents after an agonistic event and showing that their later affiliative behavior differs from an appropriate comparison. That is a different design from observing gestures during a confrontation or measuring responses after an ambiguous distress event.
What the evidence says about elephant intelligence—and what it does not
The gesture findings support flexible communication that is sensitive to the recipient’s attention and responsive to outcomes. In the terminology used by the 2026 study, this is first-order intentionality: an elephant acts with a goal of changing another elephant’s behavior.
That conclusion should not be inflated into proof of human-like language or complex mental-state attribution. There is no conclusive evidence here that elephants signal with the intention of changing what another elephant believes, knows or feels. A behavior can be flexible and audience-sensitive without having the full properties of human language.
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Nor does the observed repertoire prove that every gesture has one fixed meaning. Context, posture, distance, identity, resource value and the recipient’s response all matter. The labels “Move away” and “Stop behaviour” are broad functional descriptions inferred from repeated interaction patterns.
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How the two studies compare
| Feature | Eleuteri et al. (2026) | Plotnik et al. (2014) |
|---|---|---|
| Species | Wild African savannah elephants | Semi-free-ranging Asian elephants |
| Setting | Addo and Marakele national parks, South Africa; two fenced populations | Thailand elephant camp; six managed groups |
| Social situation | Agonistic interactions and competition | Periods after distress compared with matched-control periods |
| Communication channels examined | Visual gestures during interactions | Directed physical affiliation and vocal communication |
| Key result | 41 gesture types derived from 32 gesture actions; broad goals “Move away” and “Stop behaviour” | More directed touch and vocal communication after distress |
| Evidence of flexibility | Audience checking, adjustment to visual attention, response waiting and persistence | Increased affiliative and vocal responses in the post-distress condition |
| Main qualification | Results come from two populations and need testing in broader contexts | Ambiguous distress triggers make some interpretations uncertain; the design did not test reconciliation between opponents |
Important limits on generalization
Population and habitat
The 2026 observations came from two fenced, high-density South African populations. Their gesture frequencies differed, and their contested resources differed. A gesture common near a concentrated water source may be less common where water is dispersed. Results from Addo and Marakele should therefore not be treated as a universal behavioral inventory for all African elephants.
Sample and comparison design
The 2014 study involved 26 Asian elephants in six managed groups. It used matched-control periods, which strengthens the comparison between post-distress and ordinary behavior, but it did not recreate a controlled conflict between known opponents. Because some distress stimuli were ambiguous, the researchers were appropriately cautious about assigning one explanation to every response.
Unstudied combinations
The 2026 authors call for more sampling across contexts, finer distinctions among gesture goals and direct study of intentional vocal-gestural combinations. That matters because elephants can communicate through several channels at once. A gesture observed without the accompanying call, posture or touch may not capture the full exchange.
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How to interpret an elephant interaction without overclaiming
When watching footage or reading a field report, use the following checklist:
- Identify the species, population and setting before generalizing.
- Ask whether the event is an agonistic conflict, a distress episode or ordinary social contact.
- Note whether the sender checked the recipient’s attention.
- Record whether the signal changed when the recipient was not looking.
- Look for a pause that allows a response, followed by persistence or a change in strategy.
- Separate an immediate withdrawal from evidence of a repaired relationship later.
- Treat labels such as “reassurance” as interpretations tied to the study design, not as proof of human-like motives.
A cautious description might say that an elephant used a recipient-directed gesture consistent with a request to move away, monitored the response and continued when the first signal failed. It would be too strong to say that the elephant held a human-style conversation, understood another animal’s private mental state or guaranteed a peaceful resolution.
What researchers need to learn next
Future studies can test whether the same gesture has the same function across habitats, populations and resource conditions. They can also examine whether age, sex, kinship, dominance and prior relationships change the likelihood that a recipient complies.
Longer follow-up is needed to distinguish immediate de-escalation from lasting reconciliation. Researchers could identify both parties before an encounter, record the interaction and then measure later proximity, contact, grooming or avoidance against matched non-conflict periods.
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Bottom line
Elephants can use flexible, recipient-directed gestures during conflict to ask another elephant to move away or stop a behavior. They check attention, adapt the signal, wait for a response and sometimes persist, which is consistent with first-order goal-directed communication. After distress, Asian elephants have also shown increased directed touch and vocal communication described as reassurance. These behaviors can help manage tension, but current studies do not prove that every conflict ends in reconciliation, that all elephants share one fixed gesture vocabulary or that elephant communication is equivalent to human language.
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