Elephants in Kenya can distinguish between the voices of two local groups, reacting with fear to Maasai men, who have historically speared them, and staying calmer around Kamba voices — evidence that they are not just hearing humans, but learning which humans are dangerous

Elephants in Kenya can distinguish between the voices of two local groups, reacting with fear to Maasai men, who have historically speared them, and staying calmer around Kamba voices — evidence that they are not just hearing humans, but learning which humans are dangerous

A hidden loudspeaker in Amboseli National Park says, in Maa, “Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming.” The herd bunches immediately. Calves shuffle to the middle, adults turn outward, trunks lift to taste the air, and the whole family slides off into the grass. Play the same sentence in Kikamba and everyone keeps eating. That gap is the finding of a 2014 playback experiment published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of S…