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Each photograph in the slideshow below has a caption with the name of the Behavior or Constellation it illustrates. A click on the photograph will take you to a description of the Behavior or Constellation documented with video and/or audio examples. The slideshow contains around 130 selected Behaviors and Constellations of the over 425 described in The Elephant Ethogram.
A combination call that consists of a Rumble followed by a Roar and then a Rumble without an inhalation (see Roar). Roars that occur during intense social excitement such as during a greeting ceremony, the birth of a calf, or in response to the arrival of a musth male may occur as a Rumble-Roar-Rumble. Similarly, the roars of a lost calf may often be in the form Rumble-Roar-Rumble, though the quality of these is different from those occurring in a social context.
A calf or juvenile elephant who is separated from its family typically begins to call with a series of Separated-Rumbles. As a lost calf becomes increasingly distressed, the Rumbling escalates to shrill Trumpeting or Roaring. The Roars emitted by a lost calf are typically concatenated calls in the form of a Roar-Rumble or Rumble-Roar-Rumble.
This behavioral constellation includes the following behaviors: Roar, Rumble and occurs in the following context(s): Advertisement & Attraction, Affiliative, Calf Nourishment & Weaning, Conflict & Confrontation, Movement, Space & Leadership, Protest & Distress
Rumble-Roar-Rumble
Context: Calf Nourishment & Weaning (1)
A 1 year calf suckles from a young female (with small breasts) and then stops midway to gives a Rumble-Roar-Rumble and then another loud throaty Rumble. It appears that the calf listens before calling. It is possible that the female he is Suckling from is not his mother and that he is calling to his mother who is out of sight. Alternatively he is not getting enough milk and is complaining, but the call does not have quite the right tone for than. The adult female also Rumbles as we can see by her Ear-Flapping. He resumes Suckling. (Maasai Mara, Kenya)
Rumble-Roar-Rumble
Context: Calf Nourishment & Weaning (2)
This footage was shot by Kelly Fogel in Kruger National Park, South Africa. A young mother has just given birth to a female infant and has an older female calf who is about 4.5 years old. In separate footage, the older calf has been Suckling as the infant searches for the breast and attempts to Suckle, too. The mother spent 20 minutes Eating-Afterbirth (see separate clip) and has eaten the entire placenta. The older calf seems eager to depart and is, perhaps, unhappy with her mother being otherwise occupied. She may also be unhappy having to share the breast with the newborn.
We cannot be sure why the calf calls (we have placed it in Calf Nourishment & Weaning), but we hear her give two soft Rumbles as she walks off and then give a loud Open-Mouthed Rumble-Roar-Rumble in some sort of distress. Her mother quickens her pace and moves toward her older daughter and the three depart. (Kruger National Park, South Africa)
Rumble-Roar-Rumble
Context: Advertisement & Attraction (1)
Qadija has just Mated with Pascal and Queiroz (circled at the start) is leading the Mating-Pandemonium. She has already given a number of powerful Rumbles and two Roar-Rumbles. As this clip starts she Rumbles again and then walks over to where the mating occurred and gives a Rumble-Roar-Rumble. Qadija runs toward and Quieroz gives a Social-Trumpet Rumbles again. (Amboseli, Kenya)
Elephants give a Trumpet-Blast, Rumble-Roar-Rumble, and a Roaring-Rumble in response to the playbacks of lions Roaring. Unfortunately this was recorded by a third party who used a recorder with low-frequency cutoff so only the upper harmonics of the Rumbles are heard. (Amboseli, Kenya)
If you want to look at a spectrogram of this recording, .
Ebony initiates a Female-Chorus with a loud Rumble-Roar-Rumble to Rashid in musth. She is joined by Echo, Eliot and Erin who Rumble in chorus. Someone Trumpets. Erin is in estrus. (Amboseli, Kenya)
If you want to look at a spectrogram of this recording, .
A 10-year-old male is separated from his family and is calling and searching frantically. He receives an answer to his calls; he responds with a Rumble-Roar-Rumble and moves rapidly in that direction with trunk held in a Periscope-Sniff. He looks annoyed, or even angry. (Amboseli, Kenya)
If you want to look at a spectrogram of this recording, .
Chyulu is in estrus for the first time and being followed by musth male, Macaroon. Charlotte is acting as if she is in estrus, too (but is not), and is chased over one kilometer in a wide circle by a young male. Charlotte's three-year-old calf is distressed by the separation from her mother and emits a Rumble-Roar-Rumble. (Amboseli, Kenya)
If you want to look at a spectrogram of this recording, .
