Do any non-human animals use unique names to refer to other members of their family/social group?
By “name” I mean a vocalization (or maybe a stance or body movement or distinguishing activity) that is unique to one individual and used by others to either refer to (in their absence) or to address that individual.
I’m thinking of animals who live in social groups (wolves, dolphins) and/or those who bear more than one offspring at a time. I can think of scenarios where it might be useful for a member of a group of monkeys to address one and only one other member of the group, or a mother fox to address one and only one of her kits.
Big caveat here – other members of the family/social group must use the “name” to refer to the individual. For this example I am specifically ruling out whale song and similar unique displays by individuals. A whale humming his own unique tune might be understood by other whales as “Oh yeah, that’s Joe over there. I can tell because he’s humming the ‘Joe’ song.” This is not what I’m interested in.
However, if one whale wanted to find Joe and began humming Joe’s song to attract him then that would count (see paragraph #2, above).
(DISCLAIMER – I’m sure my post isn’t worded in the most scientifically rigorous manner, and I am fairly ignorant on wild animal behavior (not to mention whale song). So… go easy on me.)
I am posting all of this on heresay, and it is a round about solution, so here goes;
The Gorilla Koko (who was taught American Sign Language) Communicated that she(?) refered to the fruit ‘watermellon’ as “waterfruit”. Since Water makes up a majority of Watermellon, it is a fitting name. Any how, regardless of the name, the fact that it was so named it the only point. In short, among the higher thinking animals with a ‘language’, it would be a safe bet to state that indeed other animals have been named by other animal types.
This is also hearsay, but I have read that certain species of birds, esp. the smaller parrots, will imitate the characteristic ‘song’ of another parrot in order to call that parrot or get its attention, usually when it is out of sight.
Among groups of signing chimpanzees, I have read that they know the signs for the names of one another and their human caretakers, and will use these signs to call one another or even to refer to one another while signing with a third party.
So, I suppose it is possible that certain social species have “names” in the sense that there are certain sounds or actions which represent them in the abstract.
But there’s another corollary to this: some predators imitate the calls of their prey to attract them. Does this count as well under your question?
Well, Koko has also named cats “All Ball” and “Lipstick.” Supposedly, because “All Ball” had no tail (and was therefore “round”) and “Lipstick” because of the cat’s color.
If it’s legit, that might give some insight as to how Gorillas, at least, create names.
Orca have been shown to use a characteristic pattern of vocalization to greet specific individuals in their pod after an absence. Whether is truly a ‘name’ is entirely speculative, but that’s what they are called in shorthand by some researchers. I wouldn’t take that factoid too far. For all we know, they’re just sharing an old favorite joke. Certainly we were nowhere near determining if those vocalizations are used in direct address (“I’m talking to YOU, squeal-moan-thumpa- thumpa-phhp! Don’t pretend you don’t hear me!”) or in the third person.
I don’t recall the details of how usage of the ‘name’ spread around the pod, but I do recall that (when I last heard - this info is probably a decade old now) the ‘name’ was used only within that pod. Apparently orca don’t go around introducing themselves by it (“Hi! I’m squeal-moan-click-phhp. Mind if I eat you? Or would you and your friends prefer to chase me halfway down Puget Sound?”)