Welcome to ElephantVoices

Visit The Elephant Ethogram - with over 3000 video clips, sounds and photos
Join ElephantVoices on a Day in Amboseli
Join 345,000 elephant friends on ElephantVoices on Facebook!
Learn more about why elephants are extraordinary
Watch why we should #behavemoreelephants
Help us make a difference for elephants - click on image to Donate Now!
Learn about the intricacies of the social life of elephants
Meet Dr. Joyce Poole, Co-Founder of ElephantVoices
How do elephants communicate? Sight, sound, scent, touch and vibration…
Visit the fascinating elephants in Gorongosa, Mozambique
Learn how to sex and identify African elephants
Meet Petter Granli, Co-Founder of ElephantVoices
Elephant needing your help? Find sound arguments in "Statements & Testimonies"

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Clearly, this was a conversation we weren’t part of. The elephants are interested in something on the ground - can you guess what it is or do you think it’s something only elephants understand? (Spoiler alert: it’s a bit yucky)

Today on #WorldWildlifeDay, we celebrate one of Earth’s most intelligent and socially complex animals: the elephant. 🐘 You might ask - why focus on elephants today? What do elephants have to do with World Wildlife Day? Elephants are a keystone species. By shaping landscapes, dispersing seeds, opening access to water, and creating habitats used by countless other animals, they help entire ecosystems. When elephants have space to thrive, biodiversity flourishes. For over 50 years, ElephantVoices has studied elephant communication, cognition, and social behavior - documenting their lives, relationships, and cultures, and revealing just how much is at stake if they are lost. Protecting elephants means protecting the web of life that depends on them. So today, we reaffirm our commitment to research, conservation, advocacy, and education - ensuring that science guides the protection of elephants as individuals and as a species, and safeguards the many species that depend on them. Your support makes our work possible! Donate today (link in bio) Thank you! #ElephantVoices #Elephants #KeystoneSpecies #Biodiversity #Conservation

You’ve probably heard us describe elephant calves as little wind-up toys - and for good reason. Just like puppies or kittens, they get the ‘zoomies,’ bursting into sudden, joyful bursts of energy. #ElephantCalf #BabyElephant

Recently, we shared that we saw Eliot during our visit to Amboseli and were struck by how much she resembled her mother, Echo. Curious to compare, we went back through our old photographs and found this one of Echo - taken almost to the day, standing in nearly the exact same spot in Ol Tukai Orok - 17 years ago. So many of you carry your own memories of Echo - through the films, the books, or the privilege of seeing her in person. She was not only an extraordinary elephant; she changed the way the world understands elephants. Through her life, and the lives of her family, she opened a window into elephant society - their emotions, family bonds, leadership, communication, behaviour, and culture. It is therefore extra special to see so much of Echo living on in her daughter, Eliot. Her legacy continues! You can learn more about Echo here: https://elephantvoices.org/component/content/article/echo-of-the-elephants or via the link in our bio. Elephant ID: @amboseli_trust #EchoOfTheElephants #ElephantLegacy #ElephantHistory #AmboseliElephants #AmboseliKenya

We need to talk about AI - artificial intelligence - and one of the scary consequences of it. Our feed is flooded with AI-generated images of elephants and other wildlife. Many gather thousands of likes, comments, and shares - a clear indication that they are being perceived as real. We are sharing some of these images and comments to show what we are talking about. They are not real images. They do not tell real stories. They are fake! These kind of posts spread misinformation and weaken the real conservation work being done by real people who are engaged in long-term research, conservation, and animal protection. @elephantvoices and our partners work to educate the public about elephants and the threats they face. This AI slop misinforms a gullible public for the sake of engagement. Conservation depends on trust. When fake images go viral, they distort public understanding and divert attention from the urgent, complex problems wildlife is actually facing. Real elephants. Real ecosystems. Real challenges. We are living through an extinction and climate crisis. Burning massive amounts of energy to generate fake wildlife imagery or video is a betrayal of the natural world. Before liking, commenting on, or sharing posts like these, pause. Take a closer look. Ask yourself whether what you see reflects reality - and remember that your engagement has consequences. Drop the AI slop! At @elephantvoices we document real behavior, tell real stories and photograph real elephants. Let’s keep the focus where it belongs. #DropTheAiSlop #RealAnimals

A mother elephant feeds in the lush swamps of Amboseli while her calf swims between and clambers over the clumps of floating papyrus. The calf is so small she is almost hidden by the vegetation! #AmboseliElephants #ElephantVoices #ElephantBehavior #AmboseliNationalPark

G7 joins the Mabenzi family. As he arrives he sees Gogogo in musth and he stops and Look-At. As Gogogo Advance-Toward G7 Backs-Away. The behavior illustrated in this video is Advance-Toward: Purposeful, directed walking with hostile intent toward another elephant(s), or toward a perceived non-elephant threat, that typically results in sumissive or avoidance behavior or counter threat. The term includes an Advance-Toward of a single step to a persistent, prolonged and highly aggressive pursuit at a fast walk. The latter often follows an Escalated-Contest when one male has signalled defeat by fleeing. Advance-Toward may be associated with other aggressive behaviors such as Head-High, Ear-Spreading, or Ear-Folding, Ear-Slap, Ear-Waving, Bow-Neck, Kick-Dust etc. • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephantbehaviour #knowyourelephants #elephant

The Maasai Mara ecosystem is a living mosaic of savanna grasslands, acacia woodlands, rivers, forests, and iconic wildlife migrations, and Maasai stewardship - and elephants are central to its heartbeat. Between 2011 and 2016, ElephantVoices worked across this ecosystem launching a pioneering citizen-science movement that tracked individual elephants, mapped critical corridors, and helped shape lasting plans to protect the Mara’s connectivity and future. #maasaimara #elephantvoices #elephants #conservation #citizenscience

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