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WHO WE ARE ELEPHANT LANGUAGE FOREST ELEPHANTS IN THE FIELD FOR KIDS NEWS BLOG SHOP

LISTEN.
LEARN.
DISCOVER.

ELP is not just about elephants, but
is also about people: researchers,
supporters, colleagues, and friends,
who together make ELP happen.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT US Explore the world of the forest elephant by checking out our video library

JUST FOR KIDS THE ELP VIDEO IN THE FIELD
Begin your journey through the forest with our View our video introduction Exprience our most recent adventures with the
interactive learning center. elephants in Africa.

WHO WE ARE FOR KIDS SHOP
ELEPHANT LANGUAGE ELP NEWS CONTRIBUTE
FOREST ELEOHANTS BLOG CONTAT US
IN THE FIELD

Copyright © 2011 Cornell Lab of Ornithology



WHAT WE
COULDN’T HEAR,
WAS ALWAYS THERE.

ELP has discovered complex
communication between elephants.
Like humans, they are able to alert,
express and inform eachother of
various information through methods
that we cannot hear.

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IN THE FIELD




THEY ARE
MORE LIKE US
THAN WE THINK.

Elephants have complex relationships
like we do. They develop parental
intincts and bonds just like us. We are
more alike than we think.

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IN THE FIELD




In some ways, the Elephant Listening Project began at the on the elephant’s lives by recording their vocal exchanges and learning
Portland Zoo in 1984, when Katy Payne felt (more than heard) to identify the contexts in which certain calls are used. In 1999, Katy and
the low-frequency rumbling communication of two Asian several colleagues founded ELP to further theuse of acoustic methods
elephants, a male and female, who were standing on opposite to study and aid in the conservation of forest elephants in Central Africa.
WHO WE ARE

sides of a concrete wall. In the following years, Katy and a
group of dedicated colleagues demonstrated that elephants The Elephant Listening Project is a not-for-profit organization associated
often communicate using sounds below the threshold of with the Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) at the Cornell Lab of
human hearing, that these sounds carry over vast distances, Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. Since its inception, ELP has depended
and that elephants use vocal communication to bind their on financial support from a diversity of governmental and non-
complex family social system together. Katy describes the governmental organizations, private donors and BRP.
fascinating trajectory of her interest in elephant communication
in the delightful book Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Some of the earliest research was focused on characterizing low-
Elephants. frequency communication in savannah elephants, but increasingly the
One of Katy’s insights was that we could perhaps ‘eavesdrop’ focus has been on forest elephants in the rainforests of Central Africa.
THE TEAM

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KATY PAYNE PETER WREGE MYA THOMPSON MODEST DOUCKAGA

A lifelong naturalist and amateur Peter became the director of the A member of the Elephant Listening Modest has been observing and
musician, Katy began her career Elephant Listening Project (ELP) in Project since its inception in 1999, Mya identifying elephants in Gabon for
studying the evolving songs of the January 2007. A behavioral ecologist, took a break to study for a PhD and more than five years. As part of the
humpback whale. She shifted her focus Peter has made Ithaca his base for have two babies! Her research focused Wildlife Conservation Society elephant
to elephants in 1984, when she and more than 30 years, but has been on improving acoustic monitoring research team, he has been the key
two colleagues discovered infrasonic fortunate to work for long periods of methodologies for African forest person establishing a database of
calling in elephants by recording time in the field, observing animals in elephants and understanding the role elephant identities for Langoue Bai,
at a zoo. The studies that followed their natural environments and trying vocal signals play in maintaining their Ivindo National Park. Modest is now
from this discovery have shown that to understand what makes them tick. social system. She was awarded her working with Nico Bout in the Bateke
elephants use their low-frequency calls Although he has worked in such exotic doctorate in September 2009. region, teaching new researchers about
to coordinate their social behavior over places as Venezuela, Panamá, and the elephant observation and identification.
long distances. She founded ELP in Galapagos, his eight years of research
1999, and was the leader of the project in Kenya, East Africa, were particularly
until 2006, when she officially retired. influential. He is very happy to be back
Katy is now writing a book about forest in Africa to carry on ELP’s research
elephants, and continues to play a program in the equatorial rainforests of
critical role in all ELP’s activities. the Congo Basin.

IN THE FIELD




ELEPHANT LANGUAGE

ACOUSTIC CONSERVATION HEARD BUT NOT SEEN - ACOUSTICS AND OVERVIEW
RAINFOREST CONSERVATION
INFRASOUND Animals in rainforests present a
special challenge for conservationists
ELEPHANT GREETINGS As we consider the size of elephants’ sensory world, because they are difficult to monitor.
the timing as well as the frequency and power of their However, if the species uses sound
THE ELEPHANT LANGUAGE vocalizations turns out to be important. The propagation to communicate, acoustic monitoring
may be an effective tool for estimating
ELEPHANT TALK of very low frequency sound varies with atmospheric abundance and population trends
conditions, which change on a diurnal schedule. On a over time.
TOOLS OF THE ACOUSTIC typical dry season evening in the savannah a temperature
TRADE
inversion forms, potentially increasing the listening area of
elephants as much as ten-fold -- from 30 km2 at midday to
300 km2 in the same evening (Larom et al. 1997). In light
of this fact it is interesting that savannah elephants make
most of their loud low-frequency calls during the hours of
best sound propagation (Ibid.). We do not know whether
this is an innate or opportunistic response to fluctuations in
Z Aerial view of Congo Basin Rainforest
the size of their communication area, but in either case it The dense habitat makes counting
is clear that as the area shrinks and expands, so does the elephants from a plane impossible.
Counting elephant calls instead is a viable
network of potential associates and mates. alternative.

Infrasound is sound below the level of human hearing. The
discovery that elephants use infrasound in communication
led from a hunch Katy Payne had when she was working
with elephants in Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Oregon.
She was studying communication, when in addition to the
rumbles she could hear, she thought she felt, rather than
heard, other rumbles. She suspected these were infrasonic
rumbles. Further work with William Langbauer, Jr. and
Elizabeth Thomas showed that the elephants were indeed
making infrasonic calls. Subsequent studies, in association
with Joyce Poole, William Langbauer, Cynthia Moss, Russell
Charif, Rowan Martin and others, took place in Kenya,
Namibia, and Zimbabwe, and led to the conclusion that
elephants use their powerful deep calls in long distance
communication.
Z © Andrea Turkalo
Natty2, an adult male forest elephant,
This finding offers a solution to many old mysteries about enters the Dzanga forest clearing in the
elephant society, particularly the mystery attending the Central African Republic

ability of males to find females for breeding, and the ability
of separated family groups to coordinate their patterns of
movement for weeks at a time without losing communication
or converging on the same scarce resources.

IN THE FIELD




ELEPHANT LANGUAGE

ACOUSTIC CONSERVATION HEARD BUT NOT SEEN - ACOUSTICS AND OVERVIEW
RAINFOREST CONSERVATION Animals in rainforests present a
INFRASOUND special challenge for conservationists
because they are difficult to monitor.
ELEPHANT GREETINGS As we consider the size of elephants’ sensory world, However, if the species uses sound
NEXT to communicate, acoustic monitoring
the timing as well as the frequency and power of their
may be an effective tool for estimating
THE ELEPHANT LANGUAGE vocalizations turns out to be important. The propagation abundance and population trends
of very low frequency sound varies with atmospheric over time.
ELEPHANT TALK
conditions, which change on a diurnal schedule. On a
TOOLS OF THE ACOUSTIC typical dry season evening in the savannah a temperature
TRADE
inversion forms, potentially increasing the listening area of
elephants as much as ten-fold -- from 30 km2 at midday to
300 km2 in the same evening (Larom et al. 1997). In light
of this fact it is interesting that savannah elephants make
most of their loud low-frequency calls during the hours of
best sound propagation (Ibid.). We do not know whether
this is an innate or opportunistic response to fluctuations in Z Aerial view of Congo Basin Rainforest
The dense habitat makes counting
the size of their communication area, but in either case it elephants from a plane impossible.
is clear that as the area shrinks and expands, so does the Counting elephant calls instead is a viable
alternative.
network of potential associates and mates.

Infrasound is sound below the level of human hearing. The
discovery that elephants use infrasound in communication
led from a hunch Katy Payne had when she was working
with elephants in Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Oregon.
She was studying communication, when in addition to the
rumbles she could hear, she thought she felt, rather than
heard, other rumbles. She suspected these were infrasonic
rumbles. Further work with William Langbauer, Jr. and
Elizabeth Thomas showed that the elephants were indeed
making infrasonic calls. Subsequent studies, in association
with Joyce Poole, William Langbauer, Cynthia Moss, Russell
Charif, Rowan Martin and others, took place in Kenya,
Namibia, and Zimbabwe, and led to the conclusion that
elephants use their powerful deep calls in long distance
© Andrea Turkalo
communication.
Natty2, an adult male forest elephant, enters the Dzanga Z © Andrea Turkalo
forest clearing in the Central African Republic Natty2, an adult male forest elephant,
This finding offers a solution to many old mysteries about enters the Dzanga forest clearing in the
Central African Republic
elephant society, particularly the mystery attending the
ability of males to find females for breeding, and the ability
of separated family groups to coordinate their patterns of
movement for weeks at a time without losing communication
or converging on the same scarce resources.

IN THE FIELD




FOREST ELEPHANTS

FOREST ELEPHANTS FOREST ELEPHANT INFANTS

ELEPHANT ECOLOGY

ELEPHANT SOCIETY

ELEPHANT FAMILIES

BABY ELEPHANTS

UNIQUE THREATS TO
FOREST ELEPHANTS

ACOUSTIC CONSERVATION

Grabbing the towbar! © Melissa Groo < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >

One of the joys of studying forest elephants in the field is being able to watch the infants.
Perhaps it is because elephants are so large that the miniature form of a baby is so arresting.
Our researchers have been privy to many magical moments in the field, both endearing and
amusing. Some of these have been captured on film, and you can see a selection of these if
you click on the Photo Gallery tab below.

Elephants have the longest gestation period of all mammals - 22 months, and they produce a
calf only once every 2.5 to 4 years. This lengthy time interval allows the mother to devote the
attention that the calf needs in order to teach it all the complex tasks of being an elephant,
such as how to use their trunk to eat, drink and wash, and what to eat.

Elephant babies weigh about 105 kilograms (232 pounds) at birth. They can stand up and
move around almost immediately, which allows the mother to roam around to forage, and is
essential to avoid predation. The calf suckles using its mouth (its trunk is held over its head).
The tusks erupt at about 16 months. Calves are not weaned until they are about 4 or 5 years
old. At this time, the tusks are about 14 cm (5.5”) long, and begin to get in the way of sucking.

Female forest elephants, and juveniles of both sexes live in small family groups, and the
arrival of a new infant is always a source of great interest to the females in the family. They
help the mother to guard and watch out for the infant; for example if a predator approaches,
they will all circle the infant to protect it.

IN THE FIELD


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Elepant Listenign Project

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