elephant calls

Listening to the voices of elephants over decades has taught us that communication is the glue that binds the social network of an intelligent species, and its study offers a window into the hearts and minds of elephants. Our collection of observations, recordings and images come from Africa and Asia and form the basis of extensive databases, being used and visited by a world-wide audience.

A decades-long study of elephant social behaviour, communication and cognition in Amboseli, Kenya, have been dedicated to the understanding and protection of these remarkable creatures. Our work in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, and Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, is adding to this body of knowledge and will in due time also be reflected in our online behavioral databases.

By studying what elephants are capable of understanding and what they communicate to one another, we have a better chance of finding solutions to the many problems that elephants face. In this endeavour we collaborate with biologists all over the world with our online collections forming a unique resource for other scientists and the public.

By clicking on the illustration to the right you will be able to check out an article on National Geographic, giving some insight

Abstract

The Elephant Ethogram: A Library of African Elephant Behavior (TEE) is an ElephantVoices initiative to document the complex and diverse repertoire of African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) behavior and communication. In a unique, user-friendly and fully searchable online database, TEE documents the rich postural, gestural, tactile, chemical and acoustic communication and behavior of savanna elephants, including rare, novel and idiosyncratic behavior, as well as that expressed in response to people. The Elephant Ethogram is based on our decades of behavioral studies and our photographic, acoustic and videographic collections from Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara ecosystem, Kenya, and from Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, as well as on raw video footage from documentaries filmed in the Maasai Mara and Gorongosa, and on footage of unusual behavior filmed by our colleagues and the general public. TEE is built on ElephantVoices previous online behavior and calls databases (and see also Poole & Granli 2011 and Poole 2011), to which we have added hundreds of new behaviors, included video, and improved the structure and functionality of the database. We intend TEE to be a repository for scientific study and comparison, and to inspire broader interest in elephant behavior, conservation and welfare. We, therefore, include introductory and explanatory information suitable for both