text:
Fun Stuff & More 0
ElephantVoices 0
Karibuni 1
Support NOW! 11
Multimedia resources 5
News 9
Education 11
ElephantVoices Blog 0
General News 62
Kenya 13
Research 3
Welfare 40
Poaching 1
Media 13
Appeals 10
Events 10
Behavior 6
Zoos 8
Circuses 1
Field news 41
Elephant Call Types Database 1
Elephant calls can be divided into two broad categories based on the way that the sound is produced. Sounds originating in the larynx are laryngeal calls. Trunk calls are those produced by a blast of air through the trunk.
Elephant calls can be further categorized into presumed call types by ear and by visual inspection of spectrograms. For instance, one can easily hear broad differences between the rumbling, screaming, crying, barking sounds produced by elephants, and on a spectrogram one can easily see the difference between a noisy or tonal sound. Finally, one can measure structural differences in the time and frequency characteristics of sounds.
Based on these broad differences as well as previous work of our colleagues, we have described 10 types. The laryngeal types are: rumble, rev, roar (with subtypes noisy, tonal, andmixed), cry, bark, grunt and husky cry and the trunk call types,trumpet, nasal-trumpet, and snort.
Besides these primary call types elephants frequently emit composite calls that grade from one type into another. This rich range of amalgamated calls includes snort-rumbles, roar-rumbles, rumble-roar-rumbles, cry-rumbles, bark-rumbles andtrumpet-rumbles. Elephants are most likely to produce these composite calls when they are disturbed or excited.
The elephant's capacity for vocal production learning, or imitation, creates the potential for an additional call type category namely, Imitated and Novel Calls that, while structurally unique, may not be socially relevant. These include croaking, squelching, purring and truck-like sounds as well as other idiosyncratic sounds, such as the elephant in a Korean zoo who imitates the voice of his handler.
This elephant call type database together with the more comprehensive elephant call context-type database represent a sample of our elephant call collection and is the result of many, many years of fieldwork, analysis and writing. The two databases expand upon a body of work that appear as Poole, J.H. The behavioral contexts of African elephant acoustic communication. In: The Amboseli Elephants: A Long-Term Perspective on a Long-Lived Mammal. Moss, C.J. & Croze, H.J. (Eds.) University of Chicago Press. The chapter is more technical and addresses statistical differences between the different call types and context-types. For those of you interested in obtaining more detailed information about these results, or for obtaining access to calls for further analysis, please get in touch. We welcome collaboration.
We intend to include spectrograms for each of the sound files uploaded, but this will be done at a later date.
The sounds on the database are the copyright of ElephantVoices. If you wish to use them commercially or otherwise, please contact us. If you wish to cite this work please use: Poole, J and Granli, P. 2009. Database of African elephant acoustic communication, www.elephantvoices.org.
To view the full sitemap for the database, click here.
Laryngeal calls 0
Sounds originating in the larynx are referred to as laryngeal calls and include the rumbles, revs, roars, cries, grunts, barks and husky-cries.
The most commonly heard call type are the rumbles.
Rumble 7
Rumbles are the most frequently heard call type across both sexes and all ages of African savanna elephants, and may be easily distinguished from other call types by their very low frequencies and clear harmonic structure. Over 90% of the calls in our database are rumbles. A large number of specific stimuli evoke rumbling sounds and these are described in detail in the database which examines the behavioral contexts of calls. Rumbles originate in the larynx (source) and resonate (filter) through the pharyngeal pouch, the nasal passages of the skull and through the trunk. Rumbles can be produced with the mouth open or apparently closed. Open-mouthed calling is associated with the louder, more modulated rumbles.
Rumbles are highly variable, graded calls containing fundamental frequencies ranging between 8 and 34 Hz depending upon the caller's age, size and excitement level, as well as the call context-type. Some rumbles are highly modulated, powerful sounds, others rise or fall in pitch, some rumble contours are flat, some undulating, and still others are jittery.
Rumbles range in duration from less than half a second to almost 12 seconds, and may be emitted as a soft fluttering whisper or an explosive throaty resonance with sound pressure levels up to 103 dB extrapolated to 5 meters from source. Very powerful rumbles tend to be both highly modulated and rather noisy. Bandwidths range from 38-996 Hz with some of the variance being explained by the distance of the microphone from the source. Although there is considerable variation within age classes, the rumbles of older individuals are longer in duration and lower in frequency than those of younger individuals.
Rev 2
The rev was described in 2003 by Leong and her colleagues as a short tonal harmonic vocalization, less than a second in duration, and almost always followed immediately by a rumble. The structure of the rev is similar to a short rumble, but at between 50 and 90 Hz its fundamental frequency is significantly higher than any known rumble. The revs recorded in captivity by Leong are buzzing or revving sounds.
We located four such revs in our collection, although none of them occurred in a known context. Therefore, very little more than what Leong described is currently known about these infrequent call types. Their very rare occurrence in the wild suggests that they may be an artifact of captivity and possibly another example of a learned call.
Roar 8
Cry 4
Infants and calves under the age of five years may emit a cry or cry-rumble in situations where they are in some form of distress such as when denied access to the breast or when protesting unwanted contact by an older elephant. Cries are very short whimpering sounds lasting less than half a second in duration. Cries are typically followed by a rumble without an inhalation, and rarely a cry may be both preceded and followed by a rumble.
Bark 4
Barks are transient and primarily noisy calls that differ from noisy roars in their very short duration. Similar to the roars,barks may be combined with a rumble producing a composite bark-rumble. In Amboseli barks and bark-rumbles were heard very infrequently, but occurred in contexts similar to roars by calves: in the context of begging and when elephants were tusked or pushed. A 10-year-old female made one as she was mated for the first time.
Grunt 4
The grunt was described in 2007 by Stoeger-Horwath as a soft, short, beeping or honking sound produced by infant elephants in the first days of life. She reports that in captivity infants cease producing grunts by two months of age. Gruntsare barely audible and, therefore, difficult to hear and record in the wild. Some are associated with attempts to suckle.
Husky-Cry 4
The term husky refers to gruff or husky sounds produced only by newborn and infant elephants up to about four months of age. Husky-cries contain noisy harmonics similar in structure to some Rumbles yet their sound quality is dissimilar.Husky-cries range from barely audible breathy exhalations to surprisingly powerful hoarse, rasping sounds. They are usually made during moments of distress and are heard frequently during the first hours and days of life as the unstable infant struggles to remain standing, and as it is touched and fondled by family members. Each call brings a vocal response and additional fondling by mother and allomothers, which in turn elicits more vocalizing by the infant.
Infants may also emit a husky cry when separated from their mothers and frightened by something, when touched and woken by their mothers, when engaged in rough play, or when frightened by a loud sound or if receiving rough treatment.
Trunk Calls 0
Trumpet 4
Trumpets are produced by a forceful expulsion of air through the trunk and come in several forms. Trumpets are mainly tonal sounds, though harmonics are overlaid with noise. Most last less than a second (though extremely long trumpets may last over 3 seconds).
An elephant can produce a wide variety of sounds by varying the speed of air she forces through her trunk, by the shape in which she holds her trunk and by her own body posture and movement. Elephants tend to trumpet when they are highly stimulated - in situations where they may be fearful, surprised, aggressive, playful or socially excited - and the quality oftrumpeting varies with the context.
Trumpeting is often associated with intensely social events such as a birth, mating or greeting ceremony, where group participation is important. In these situations trumpeting seems to function as a kind of "exclamation mark", expressing the very high level of excitement and importance of the event.
Nasal-Trumpet 4
Nasal-trumpets sound like a large man blowing his nose. They are much noisier than trumpets, considerably lower in frequency and are almost invariably heard in the context of play, although intense social excitement may elicit nasal trumpeting, too.
Snort 1
Snorts are short, noisy, broadband sounds produced by blowing air purposefully through the trunk. Elephants may snortwhen they are surprised by something (these may simply be less explosive trumpets), during intense social excitement, or to alert other members of their group to a new situation.
Snorts are usually audibly distinguishable from the more common "blows" (blowing, sneezing, wheezing and coughing sounds) that appear to be made for the purpose of clearing the nasal passages; snorts sound sharper and more purposeful than a blow and may also be distinguished by context.
Imitated and Novel Calls 0
Croaking 1
Studying elephants in captivity, in 2003 Leong and her colleagues first reported croaking as a pulsating sound lasting between 1 and 10 seconds. These sounds were produced by several different individuals and were often associated with the sucking of water or odors into the mouth and usually occurred in a series of two or three croaks.
In Amboseli, as far as we know, only two in a population of 1500 elephants emit this unusual sound, and both of them, Gail and Gwen, are adult females from the same family. For many years only Gail was heard to croak, but then Gwen begancroaking. Unlike the observations by Leong and her colleagues, both Amboseli elephants appear to croak when they are relaxed and feeding, and croaking appears to have no communicative function. Gwen and Gail are sisters and close associates; we suggest that the croak is another example of vocal learning.
Squelching 1
Occasionally elephants may be heard to make a "squelching" sound (like that made when you walk with a lot of water in your wellington boots). The sound is apparently produced by forcing air through a "scrunched-up" trunk. Sometimes the individual squelching gives the impression of having a genuine itch in his or her trunk, but at other times production of this rather odd bubbling sound seems to be an end in itself.
Squelching is most often heard when elephants are relaxed, for example standing by the side of a waterhole, or waiting patiently for other family members to move.
Truck-like 1
In an article entitled, Elephants are capable of vocal learning, published in the journal, Nature, in 2005, Poole and her colleagues reported the imitations of truck sounds by a ten-year-old adolescent female African elephant, Malaika, who was living in a semi-captive group of orphaned elephants in Tsavo, Kenya. Trusks were sometimes audible from Malaika's night stockade which was situated some three kilometers from the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
With a fundamental frequency hovering around 50 Hz (similar to trucks) and highly variable duration (range: 685 ms to almost 15 seconds) this sound is unlike any call in the normal repertoire of African elephants. Poole and her colleagues were able to show statistically that the elephant was imitating the noise of distant trucks. Since the publication of the 2005 paper additional elephants in the small Tsavo group of orphans learned to produce the same sound.
Chirping 2
Chirping sounds are a typical vocalization of Asian elephants, though not of African elephants. In a 2005 paper entitled,Elephant are capable of vocal imitation, published in the journal Nature Poole and colleagues reported that a 23-year-old African male, Calimero, had learned to imitate the chirping of Asian elephants. Calimero had spent 18 years of his life in the company of two female Asian elephants in the Basel Zoo in Switzerland and he seldom produced any other sounds.
Elephant Calls Database Contexts 0
It wasn't long ago that people used to express surprise to learn that elephants could essentially "talk" to one another. Of course they can! How else can animals with strong individual personalities, living in a complex society, achieve anything? The purpose of this database, and the work that we have carried out over two decades, is to share with you the voices of elephants, and through them the complexities of their daily life.
One of the fundamental behavioural characteristics of elephants is their demonstrative nature. Expressions of what appear to be joy, anger, silliness, and outright indignation are all commonly seen. Elephants seem to revel in making a "big deal" about everything - they are the quinessential Drama Queens. For example, if one member of a family expresses umbrage, family and friends rush to her side to comment and concur and to provide emotional support and physical backup, if necessary.
Elephants vocalize in a wide range of situations. They call to advertise physiological or hormonal state, to warn others and to threaten, to demonstrate strong emotions, to announce needs or desires, to propose, negotiate or discuss a plan of action, to coordinate group movement, to secure group defence, to care for calves, to solicit care or support, to reinforce bonds between family and friends, to reconcile differences, and to assert dominance. Elephants communicate with one another using a variety of call types and, within those, call sub-types or what we call "context-types."
This particular database describes the calls that elephants use in specific contexts (i.e. when mating, begging, protesting, playing etc) in other words, elephant call "context-types." Before you explore this database, you may want to familiarize yourself with the over-arching elephant call types here. You may also enjoy checking out the article published on National Geographic online in April 2014 - "What Elephant Calls Mean: A Users Guide" - the result of a collaboration between ElephantVoices and National Geographic and with all the information contained compiled from this database.
This database together with the call type database represent a sample of our elephant call collection and are the result of many, many years of fieldwork, analysis and writing. It expands upon a body of work that will appear as Poole, J.H. In press. The behavioral contexts of African elephant acoustic communication. In: The Amboseli Elephants: A Long-Term Perspective on a Long-Lived Mammal. Moss, C.J. & Croze, H.J. (Eds.) University of Chicago Press. The book chapter is more technical and addresses statistical differences between the different call types and proposed context-types. For those of you interested in obtaining more detailed information about these results, or for obtaining access to calls for further analysis, please get in touch. We welcome collaboration.
We intend to include spectrograms for each of the uploaded call files, but this will be done at a later date.
The sounds on the database are the copyright of ElephantVoices. If you wish to use them commercially or otherwise, please contact us.
If you wish to cite this work please use: Poole, J and Granli, P. 2009. Database of African elephant acoustic communication, www.elephantvoices.org. To view the full structure for the database, click here.
Group Defense 0
Calls associated with anti-predator behavior include those used in the context of alerting companions to the presence of a predator, intimidating or "mobbing" a predator, as well as those used while taking defensive action. Family members produce several different call types when they confront predators or when they find themselves in potentially threatening or frightening situations. These include rumbles, snorts, trumpets, and roars. Much has been written about the complex and highly coordinated defensive and offensive behavior of elephants in the presence of predators, but the variety of calls produced, and the dramatic responses of other elephants to these calls has received little attention.
When exposed to the sound, sight and smell of lions, hyenas, humans, or other potentially dangerous predators or situations, females and calves typically respond by first Freezing, then rapid assembly (rapid walking or running toward one another) and then Bunching. Once elephants have assessed the level of danger presented, they may attack en masse or make a hasty retreat. Their particular response appears to be communicated, in part, via fine-tuned acoustic signaling.
Alert 0
When elephants are exposed to an unusual or disturbing situation, they respond with behavior that alerts other members of their family or group to the impending danger. A sudden lifting of the head and ears may be followed by Listening and/or Freezing behavior as well as sniffing toward the offending animal or object (See Attentive behavior in the Gestures Database for more information).
These behaviors may follow a sharp snort or snort-rumble by one individual as if alerting others to the presence of danger or something which requires attention. Immediately following a snort given in this context, a number of soft, medium length rumbles by one or more individuals may then be heard. The calls of several individuals may overlap. Elephants in the calling group stand alert, listening and looking, appearing to "comment on" or "call attention to" the unusual or disturbing event.
Comment-Rumble 6
Alarming events that elicit soft rumbling and attentive behavior may include non-elephant disturbances such as unusual commotion in a vehicle, a helicopter passing overhead, the discovery of Maasai herdsmen in the area, or the roaring sounds of lions. Elephants may also give similar calling in a situation that is new, rather than frightening, such as the arrival of a known research vehicle.
A disturbing, or exciting event among con-specifics (such as a fight between two musth males, or serious aggression directed at a family member) may also elicit this form of soft rumbling, as will playbacks of unexpected callers. We have referred to this form of rumbling as comment-rumbling, so called because elephants appear to use it to "comment on" or "call attention to" the unusual or disturbing event.
Defensive and Mobbing 0
An elephant confronting a dangerous predator can produce terrifyingly powerful sounds, which may include deafening roars, trumpets and extremely loud and noisy rumbles. Having Assembled and Bunched together, older individuals at the fore and calves occupying the center, one or more individuals may Advance-Toward or Charge the predator (see also Group-Charge) while emitting powerful roaring-rumbles, trumpet-blasts, and noisy-roars that would literally put fear in the hearts of men!
The primary function of these calls is to intimidate, but they also function to call in reinforcements from other nearby family members. Confrontations with predators are also associated with softer-overlapping-rumbles during which the elephants reach out their trunks to touch one another in reassuring gestures (Reach-Touch).
Roaring-Rumbles 13
Throughout a confrontation with a dangerous predator bunched elephants may continue to vocalize with noisy, throaty, rolling rumbles, their heads raised, ears extended, temporal glands streaming and trunks reaching out to touch one another. These calls have the effect of both intimidating the predator and simultaneously calling in support from any more distant family members. We refer to the powerful noisy rumbles given in this context as roaring-rumbles.
Trumpet-Blast 9
When a group of elephants confronts a predator, or other perceived threat, an individual may Advance-Toward or Charge while emitting a powerful and sustained trumpet. Referred to as a trumpet-blast these are sounds are intended to intimidate, and typically, Charges that are associated with them end abruptly. Yet, in our experience, it is not wise to assume that a trumpeting and charging elephant will not make good her threat!
Noisy-Roar 4
When confronting dangerous predators, such as lions or humans, an elephant may produce a terrifyingly powerful roaring sound. These vocalizations have a very different quality and tone to roars associated with protest, distress or social events. Again, the primary purpose of these calls is to intimidate. Typically given at close range, they are very effective!
Startled and Alarmed 0
Startled elephants make sounds associated with a sudden exhalation of air, which may take the form of a trumpet or a snort or something in between. Elephants may also trumpet in fright or alarm.
This behavior is most often observed in calves who suddenly find themselves separated from care-givers (see Mother-Offspring).
Sexual 0
Male and female elephants live separately in essentially two different social systems. Within these systems sexually active musth males and receptive estrous females are a scarce resource in both space and time and both sexes are confronted with the problem of finding and attracting mates.
They locate potential mates through searching behavior, conspicuous postures (see Sexual in ElephantVoices Gestures database), the secretion of strong odors and loud and characteristic calling.
Male-Male Competition 0
Among sexually inactive non-musth adult male elephants, relationships are "courteous". Whereas those who are sexually active and particularly those in the heightened sexual period of musth, are combative and highly aggressive toward one another.
The reproductive success of males is strongly dependent upon longevity (how long a male survives). Older, larger males are dominant to younger smaller males and those in musth are the highest ranking of all. Older males in musth are the most successful with the the peak breeding age between 45-50 years old.
To survive to an age when a male can breed successfully requires that a male utilize all of the skills that he has learned and honed over decades. A male must learn to recognize a large number of individual males by their scent, appearance and voice; he must remember their strengths relative to his own; keep track of which individuals are in musth, where they are located and what condition they are in; and he must monitor the changing location of pre-estrus and estrus females. One way a musth male does this is by listening in for the calls of other males in musth and by calling himself and listening for the answers from females who respond to musth males with characteristic calling. We refer to the particular calls made by musth males as musth-rumbles.
Musth-Rumble 7
During the heightened sexual and aggressive period of musth, males produce a distinctive rumble with a characteristically pulsated "put-put-put" or "glug-glug-glug" quality, like water gurgling through a deep tunnel. This is known as a musth-rumble and it is associated with an increased rate of Urine-Dribbling and a particular ear posture known as an Ear-Wave.
Males tend to give musth-rumbles in rather specific contexts such as during aggressive interactions with other males, when they approach a group of females, when they are marking a tree with Temporal-Gland-Secretion, drinking, or wallowing, as well as in situations where they feel challenged.
For example, the sound of another musth male, an approaching vehicle or even an airplane overhead is often enough to trigger a musth male to rumble. Musth males also frequently rumble before or after listening, when they are presumably responding to distant elephant calls or using calling to search for potential mates.
|Musth males most often rumble when they are alone, less often in the company of females and least often when they are guarding an estrous female. Since musth males often listen after they rumble, it's likely that they use musth-rumbles to advertise their heightened aggressive and sexual state to rival males and to potential mates. Females respond to the rumbles of musth males by vocalizing, so calling may help a male to locate groups of females. Once a male has located an estrous female he may have neither the need nor the desire to advertise his whereabouts!
The calls of individual males are distinctive. Some males produce short musth-rumbles, others are very long, some are rolling while others are highly pulsated. The "typical" musth-rumble is a long, low, pulsated, tonal call with considerable overlaying noise.
Female Choice 0
Females have relatively short and infrequent receptive periods and they prefer older, higher ranking males in musth as mating partners, but these males are relatively scarce and often distant. Females show their preference for musth males by calling to them in unison, with a female-chorus, when a musth male joins their group. Females use several strategies to search for and locate these preferred mates, including by joining large aggregations where they can more easily be found by searching musth males, by secreting characteristic odors and by exhibiting conspicuous behavior (see the Gestures database under sexual) including loud calling.
The calling of females attracts the attention of all sexually active males, from which females can then choose the most favourable mate - a male who is high ranking and healthy (a male in peak musth) and has proved he can survive (an older male). Smaller female elephants can outrun the larger males, and if mounted by a male she doesn't like she can dislodge him but not standing still.
Receptive females give a poweful estrous-roar, when they are being chased by a young male, thus attracting more competitors, and the intervention of higher ranking males. And when an estrous female is mated she sings with an estrous-rumble or song, thus attracting even more competitors as she approaches the peak of her receptive period. Her family members join her song with their own powerful voices in a mating-pandemonium, thus enhancing their relatives potential to woo additional contestants.
Female-Chorus 10
Female elephants respond to the arrival of a musth male with a series of modulated and typically overlapping, or "chorused" calling. Adult and juvenile females join in the rumbling; chorus that may also include trumpeting and, occasionally, roaring.
Females may also rumble when they are tested by a musth male, in response to hearing a musth-rumble, and may even call upon locating the scent-trail of a musth male. When females call in this context they usually urinate, defecate and secrete Temporin from their temporal glands. When females are very excited, their chorusing calls can be very powerful. We refer to this pattern of calling as a female-chorus.
Estrous-Roar 1
When a female comes into her receptive, or estrous period, she may be pursued by a series of males, and she typicallyroars when she is being chased by a non-musth male. The roar of an estrous female often begins as a series of short pulsated growling sounds before developing (or not) into a pulsated estrous-roar, which has the effect of attracting distant males, or alerting her consort or guarding musth male, who may be dozing or otherwise occupied.
Females are more likely to roar in early and late estrus when young, low-ranking non-musth males chase them, than during peak estrus when they are in Consort (see Gestures database) with a high-ranking musth male and, therefore, have less reason to attract the attention of additional males.
Estrous-Rumble 6
When a female is mated, and immediately after her mate dismounts, she begins a series of distinctive rumbles that she repeats at intervals, as if in song. These long rolling rumbles, start at relatively low frequencies, rise sharply and descend slowly, and may be repeated for up to 45 minutes.
Though typically emitted in association with a mating, females at peak estrus may call in this manner in the absence of a mating. We refer to this pattern of calling as a post-copulatory or estrous-rumble. The time between each call in the song starts at around 1500 ms and increases with time after the mating. The female calls very powerfully at the beginning of her song, gradually diminishing in intensity with time. She may reach out repeatedly to touch her partner's penis, or his semen on the ground, calling with more vigor at each renewed sniff. Her calling is associated with loud, rhythmic ear flapping and copious secretion from her temporal glands. Estrous-rumbles have the effect of attracting (often distant) males.
Mating-Pandemonium 2
Following a mating, relatives and associates join the estrous female in what we have termed a Mating-Pandemonium. The arrival and participation of the mated female's family increases her own level of excitement and calling. Adult females, juveniles and calves all participate, overlapping the distinctive estrous-rumbles of the mated female with powerful rumbles, trumpets, and roars of their own. True pandemonium exists: it is difficult to tell who is calling and whether the component calls can be classified as a particular context-type (though the estrous-rumbles stand out as distinctive, both audibly and structurally).
For now we refer to all trumpets and roars that occur during matings, greetings, births, and other highly social, excitable events as social-trumpets and social-roars (see Social Integration). While the social-trumpets do appear to be distinctive it may be the tempo of the repeated estrous-rumble is what distinguishes the event, rather than any detectable differences in the rumbling, trumpeting or roaring of the other participants.
What is notable is that many of the rumbles made by females other than the mated female appear to be bimodal or multi-modal.
Mother Offspring 0
Many of the vocalizations made in the context of a family group are those emitted during interactions between calves and their care-takers. Calves vocalize when begging for access to the breast, when denied access to a food source, when thwarted, frightened, or when they are soliciting assistance or support from their mothers or other care-givers.
Calf vocalizations in these contexts include almost all of the call types produced by African elephants: Rumbles, husky-cries, barks, grunts, cries, roars and trumpets.
Mothers and allomothers respond to these calls by coming to the physical aid of the calling calf and by rumbling. Calves rumble, in turn, in response to the care proffered.
Soliciting suckling 0
A broad range of call types may be heard in the context of a calf Soliciting-Suckling (see also Gestures database), or begging, and may include rumbles, cries, cry-rumbles, roars, roar-rumbles, barks, bark-rumbles and grunts.
These sounds are typically made by calves ranging from newborn to four or five years old, although we have seen an eight year old juvenile successfully soliciting suckling! After rumbling and complaining for some time an older sister appeared to intervene on the juvenile's behalf - blocking her mother, Wartear's path and rumbling loudly to her. Wartear then stopped and allowed the eight-year-old to suckle. She had to get down on her knees to access her mother's breasts!
Begging Rumble 4
An infant or calf typically initiates begging (Solicit-Suckling - see Gestures database) by tagging along its mother's side with its trunk raised and emitting one or a series of very soft, short rumbles characterized by an "rrrrmmmm" sound of descending pitch. Upon hearing her calf vocalizing in this manner a mother typically stops and put's her foreleg on the calf's side forward - allowing her calf access to her breast.
This behavior and associated calling is frequently heard in an elephant family with infants and calves and we refer to it as a begging-rumble. Begging-rumbles are typically flat or slightly descending in frequency, but about a third are modulated, rising slightly and then falling. Generally only elephants under the age of five years emit begging-rumbles.
Among free ranging elephants this type of rumbling is heard almost exclusively when calves are begging for access to the breast, although we have twice heard a calf emit this sound when it was begging for food from its mother's mouth. In captivity these calls may be heard at feeding time whether food is a bottle of milk or coconut cakes.
Cry and Cry-Rumble 4
When a calf's begging-rumbles or grumbling-rumbles fail to induce its mother to stop and adopt a Suckling-Stance (see Gestures database) the calf may escalate it's begging to a higher-pitched cry, cry-rumble, roar, or roar-rumble.
Many of the best quality calls in our collection are from orphans in Tsavo, while being looked after by David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Feeding time is frenzied with several calves pushing and shoving for access to the bottles. Most cries in the wild are made by begging calves, although calves may also cry when in mild distress. We assume at this stage that the cries or cry-rumbles made in both contexts are similar.
Roar and Roar-Rumble 8
Grumbling-Rumble 6
A calf's mother usually responds to the calls of a begging calf (see begging-rumble and also Solicit-Suckling in the Gestures database) by stopping and adopting a Suckling-Stance whereupon calling ceases and the calf begins to suckle. If she denies the calf access to her breast, begging continues and may escalate into a more modulated and noisy grumbling-rumble. The complaining tone of the grumbling-rumble is easily detectable.
Soliciting care or support 0
Young elephants when distressed produce a wide range of calls including rumbles, cries, cry-rumbles, roars, roar-rumbles, husky-cries, and trumpets. Distress can be defined broadly to include instances of being physically hurt (e.g. pushed, poked, kicked by another elephant), becoming "stuck" somewhere (e.g. as in a mud-wallow), becoming frightened or alarmed (e.g. separation from mother or family), or being thwarted (e.g. unable to access the breast or other resource). This latter category has been dealt with separately under the section soliciting suckling).
Within these broad call types there are a wide range of call patterns. To some extent the variety reflects the developmental stage of the elephant (e.g. infant, calf, juvenile or even adult adult), but the level of distress is also reflected in the type and tone of the call.
Husky-Cry 9
When moderately distressed, infants produce husky cries. These sounds are commonly heard in a group with a newborn and family members respond rapidly to aid the calling infant, touching it and rumbling softly. Husky cries range from barely audible, low-intensity sounds to surprisingly powerful abrupt and gravelly sounds. We refer to the softer, less intense call as a low-intensity-husky-cry and the louder type as a high-intensity-husky-cry.
Cry and Cry-Rumble 3
Roar and Roar-Rumble 4
Calves and juveniles may roar when distressed and these calls elicit the support of other, older elephants. We do not have large enough sample sizes of these call types to know whether the roars given in the context of begging (see under the solicit suckling section) are different from those emitted by infants who are distressed for other reasons. At this stage we assume that they are not, although calls that are associated with higher levels of distress appear to be coupled with more noise.
Separated-Rumble 7
Infants, calves and even juveniles of either sex emit a series of characteristic calls when they are separated from and searching for their mothers and/or families. The body postures of these youngsters (Head-Raising; Tail-Raising; Trunk-Curved-Under - see ElephantVoices Gestures Database) indicate that they feel insecure and frightened.
A calf who is separated begins by calling with a barely audible, often pulsated humming sounding rumble, "mm-mm-mm-mm". The calling calf then Freezes (see Gestures Database), standing with his head raised and ears spread, and Listening, presumably for an answer to his call, and then calls again. This pattern is repeated over and over, sometimes increasing in amplitude, until he locates his mother or other family member. The calf's typically rapid movement, as it searches for his family, is likely to be the cause of the pulsating quality of the call. We refer to calls of this quality given in this context as a separated-rumble or lost-call.
Alarmed-Trumpet 2
A calf or juvenile elephant who is separated from his or her 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. We refer to trumpets emitted in this context as alarm-trumpets as the separated calves' postures are typical of a fearful or alarmed elephant.
Separated-Roar-Rumble 6
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 call in the form of a roar-rumble or rumble-roar-rumble.
Receiving comfort 0
Elephant calves are constantly receiving the attention of their mothers and other caregivers, and acoustic and tactile communication between them helps to reinforce the bonds upon which their survival depends.
Elephant calves respond to reassurance and comfort given by adults and allomothers by emitting two rather different sounding calls that we refer to as the as-touched-rumble and the baroo-rumble.
As-Touched-Rumble 6
When infants and calves are approached and/or touched in a caring way by an older member of its family, they may emit a soft, short, low-pitched call lasting about two seconds in duration. This rumble has an "aauurrrrr" quality and the infant or calf raises its head and lifts its ears as it is calling. We refer to calls given in this context as as-touched-rumbles.
The calling calf holds herself in a posture comparable that exhibited by older individuals in the context of little-greeting-rumbles (see under Social Integration in this and the Gestures database) and the quality of the associated calls is also similar. Our guess is that the as-touched-rumble is a precursor to the little-greeting-rumble.
Similar to little-greeting-rumbles, calls given by calves in the context of receiving an affiliative gesture are highly variable, ranging from rather soft un-modulated tonal calls to loud, highly modulated and sometimes rather noisy calls.
Baroo-Rumble 7
Infants and calves who are comforted by a family member after having suffered some "injustice" (e.g. been pushed, kicked, tusked, denied access to the breast) or experienced something frightening or distressing, typically emit a loud, noisy, and characteristically highly arched "wooooaaaarrrrr" or "barooo" sound. We refer to this sound with its protesting tone as a baroo-rumble.
Reassuring and calling calves 0
Calls directed toward calves are one of the more frequently heard calls in a family group. These calls are, by and large, rather similar soft, unmodulated, low-pitched calls of medium duration.
Many of these calls appear to function to generally reassure and bond with calves.
Cooing-Rumble 5
There are two broad behavioral contexts in which adult and juvenile females rumble to a calf with whom they are in close proximity. One context is when they greet, touch, suckle or generally "coo over" a calf in the absence of an expression of distress by the calf. Such calling is most often directed toward infants, and is especially frequent when there is a newborn in the family. Juvenile females may also call in this manner when they encourage infants to "suckle" from them.
The other context is when adult or juvenile females are reassuring a calf following an event that has caused the calf to give some form of distress call. Husky-cries, begging-rumbles, separated-rumbles, as touched-rumbles, baroo-rumbles, alarm-trumpets, cries and roarsall elicit this type of calling by family members. We refer to these calls collectively as cooing-rumbles.
Conflict 0
In Amboseli, food is relatively evenly distributed, water is readily available year-round in a series of large swamps and mineral salts lie on the surface. Compared to other populations, such as the Maasai Mara, for example, there is less to fight over in Amboseli. It is rare, therefore, to see elephants in conflict over access to a food item, to a water hole or access to a salt-lick.
Yet, that does not mean that there is no conflict. Males threaten one another, and may even fight to the death, over access to receptive females. Young males spar to test one anothers strength and occasionally become too rough. Teenage males, who have reached the same size as an adult female, begin pushing their weight around, picking on females older, yet smaller than themselves. This sort of behavior is not tolerated and elicits an aggressive attack by a single matriarch or a coalition of females.
In a large aggregation, when many different families and clans come together, there are always limits to be tested and scores to be settled. Afterall, elephants live in a large society with a complex network of relationships formed by the juxtaposition of different personalities.
Aggression 0
Aggressive behavior directed toward another elephants is associated with a wide range of postures and displays (see ElephantVoices Gestures database), but while the victim is likely to protest vocally, the aggressor rarely calls, and, therefore, we have very few of these calls in our collection.
The most aggressive individuals are males in the sexual and aggressive state of musth who, when threatening another individual, do frequently vocalize with a musth-rumble. Since these calls are a component of sexual advertizement, however, they have been included in Male-Male Competition under Sexual. Musth males, and to a lesser extent other elephants, will threaten non-elephant objects (most often researchers!) with a Forward-Trunk-Swing (see Gestures Database) associated with a loud exhalation of air or snort. This display is exaggerated by musth males and known as an aggressive-whoosh.
Female elephants occasionally rumble during escalated aggression and these aggressive sounds may also be made in association with the formation of a coalition. Very often such calls are directed at non-family teenage males by large adult females who are attempting to curb their pushy, ungentlemanly behavior.
Threat-Rumble 2
A female seriously threatening another elephant stretches her head forward and outward (Bow-Neck - see ElephantVoices Gestures database and, as she chases her opponent, her aggressive rumbling is associated with audible ear flapping with Ear-Folding.
We do not have enough examples of calls recorded in this context to know whether calling associated with this type of behavior is a separate call sub-type, but the specific behavior of the elephants when calling suggests an area for further research.
Aggressive-Whoosh 4
Elephants may threaten non-elephant animals with a Forward-Trunk-Swing (see the Gestures database) during which they typically exhale loudly. In similar circumstances musth males also toss their trunks in threat in a more exaggerated form that is associated with a loud "whooshing" sound that we call an Aggressive-Whoosh. In most cases musth males whoosh toward the human observer!
Protest 0
When elephants are on the receiving end of aggression from another elephant they are likely to vocalize. These call include rumbles, roars and even trumpets (see also the calls underSoliciting care or support under Mother-Offspring).
The tone of these calls have a distinctly protesting tone.
Grumbling-Rumble 11
As mentioned in Soliciting care and under Soliciting care under Mother-Offspring, in situations where a young elephant is in conflict with another, for example over access to food, or when one is pestering another, a calf may emit a call with a distinct "whining" tone. We refer to calls with this tone as grumbling-rumble. In such calls of longer duration a very clear undulating or wavy pattern is distinguishable with frequencies rising and falling.
A number of grumbling-rumbles in our collection come from Tsavo orphans, from whom we recorded for just a few days. Orphans lack the care and protection that they would normally receive from their mothers, which probably explains the higher frequency of calling from this group. At night, in their stockade, without the moderating influence of adults, the calves pestered one another (e.g. repeatedly touching or sucking on one another's ears, etc).
Grumbling-Rumbles with their distinct undulating or wavy contour and whining tone, are also emitted by adults when apparently complaining about their treatment by others. Grumbling-Rumbles vary between one or several undulations, resulting in a rather bimodal distribution of call duration, with the longer calls sounding distinctly complaining!
V-8-Rumble 4
When an adult male is on the receiving end of a serious threat he may emit a sound similar in structure to the shorter grumbling-rumble, but of rather different sound quality. This very short, groaning-sounding rumble has the quality of an outboard or V-8 engine and is referred to, thus, as V-8-Rumble.
Adult males may produce this sound in several specific circumstances including: when seriously threatened by a higher-ranking (often musth) individual at close range; when chased or lunged at by a higher ranking individual; during rough sparring matches and during rough play. This call appears to be produced only by males and seems to indicate submission; the attacker usually stops when his or her opponent has made this call.
Roar 7
In an aggressive and/or competitive situation an elephant may roar when pushed, poked, tusked, chased or thwarted by another individual (see also Roars under Soliciting care or support under Mother-Offspring). Such roars attract the attention of family members who may rush to the caller's aid either individually or as a coalition.
A roar by an individual from another family elicits listening behavior but no assistance.
Roars may be longer and more pulsated if the calling elephant is being chased.
Trumpet-of-Protest 1
Following an aggressive interaction the elephant who has been chased or thwarted may shake his or her head vigorously in apparent "annoyance" and blow air through the trunk resulting in a trumpet or snort.
Social integration 0
Like many sexually dimorphic mammals, adult male and female elephants live in very different social worlds. Fluctuating sexual cycles distinguish the dynamic activities, associations and relationships of adult males, while a complex network of bonds between individuals and families characterizes the lives of females and their offspring.
Elephants families are composed of a discrete, predictable composition of individuals, but over the course of hours or days, these groups may temporarily separate and reunite or they may mingle with other social groups to form larger social units.
In addition to exhibiting a high frequency of association over time, members of an elephant family display strong affiliative behavior (see under Bonding in this section), including a pattern of greeting behaviors and bonding ceremonies, and show highly cooperative behavior during group defense (see Group Defense), offspring care (see Mother-Offspring), and decision-making (see Logistical under Social Integration).
Bonding 0
Members of an elephant family appear to delight in one another's company. The apparent joy that elephants feel when they reunite guides a response that's necessary for their survival: Calves born into large, closely-knit families have a better chance of survival than those born into smaller families; large families with older matriarchs have high reproductive success, are dominant and are leaders in their society. The strong and positive emotional responses between adult females help to build and reinforce the bonds between them.
The frequent greeting exchanges that occur between family members during the course of a day and the more intense greetings that occur when members of a family reunite are among the many ways in which elephants express their friendship and loyalty toward one another and renew the support network that is so important to their survival.
Elephant calls involved in bonding behavior include rumbles, roars, trumpets, and snorts and range from soft and simple little-greeting-rumble exchanges to the powerful rumbles, roars and trumpets associated with elephant greeting-ceremonies.
Little-Greeting-Rumble 6
A relatively frequent event in an elephant family is one in which an exchange of rumbles occurs when an elephant (usually older and female) approaches another (usually in parallel and from behind). Typically the approaching elephant emits a soft relatively short rumble to which the elephant being approached responds by Head-Raising, Ear-Lifting and sometimes Backing-Towards (see ElephantVoices Gestures database) the approaching elephant and emitting a relatively short rumble, of medium duration and moderate intensity (although these are highly variable). These rumbles are usually associated with the secretion of Temporin.
Examination of spectrograms indicates that in almost every case both the approaching and approached elephant call, although the softer call of the former may be drowned out by the more powerful call of the latter, and their rumbles overlap. In some cases nearby elephants may also join in. Elephants may also call in this manner when one approaches another face to face, although this pattern is less common.
The keepers who looked after the Tsavo Orphans were able to elicit the same response from the orphaned calves by individually calling out their names. Members of an elephant family appear to use this common vocal exchange as a way of saying something like "hello, its good to be near you again" or, perhaps, "you are important to me". We refer to calls given in this context as little-greeting-rumbles.
Little-greeting-rumbles may occur between any member of an elephant family, including between two males, but they are most commonly heard between females. Little-greetings occur more often between mother-daughter, sister-sister, grandmother-granddaughter pairs than expected by chance, and less often between aunt-niece, great-grandmother-great-granddaughter or pairs who were second cousins. Yet, some exchanges aunt-niece pairs show a high frequency of little-greeting-rumble exchanges. In each case these are pairs in which the niece was an infant prior to the aunt having her first calf, and the aunt was the most likely candidate in the family for taking the role of allomother. Calves and their caretakers (often sisters and aunts) emit the as touched-rumble/coo-rumbleexchange under somewhat similar circumstances to thelittle-greeting-rumble and we believe that these calls probably develop into the little-greeting-rumbleexchange.
We venture to propose that the relationships established through early vocal and tactile care-giving by mothers, sisters and other allomothers form the basis of close bonds observed as adults which are then strengthened and reinforced through the customary little-greetings between closely bonded pairs.
Greeting-Rumbles 7
When members of a social group come together after a period of more prolonged separation, they approach one another face to face and, as calling begins, they turn, "spin" or "pirouette" to stand in parallel while Head-Raising, Ear-Lifting, and streaming with Temporin. Audible Rapid-Ear-Flapping may be heard as calling explodes with a burst of powerful, throaty, highly modulated and overlapping rumbles that we refer to as greeting-rumbles.
Greeting-Ceremony 3
When individuals belonging to a family or bond-group come together after a period of prolonged separation - perhaps hours, days, or weeks- their reunion may be pandemonium. Famiy members typically approach one another face to face and, as calling begins, they turn, "spin" or "pirouette" to stand in parallel while Head-Raising, Ear-Lifting, and streaming with Temporin (see Gestures database). Audible Rapid-Ear-Flapping may be heard as calling explodes with a burst of powerful, throaty, highly modulated and overlapping greeting-rumbles (see greeting-rumbles under this section).
The longer the separation and the closer the relationship between the calling individuals the more intense the greeting is likely to be. A simple greeting between two individuals typically involves a few overlapping greeting-rumbles, while the reunion of two closely bonded families may involve up to 50 or more elephants and last for up to five minutes.
During more intense greeting-ceremonies females may exhibit any or all of the following behaviors (see Gestures databse): Head-Raising, Ear-Lifting, Rapid-Ear-Flapping, Mouth-Opening, profuse secretion of Temporin, Urination, Defecation, Spinning, Tusk-Clicking. Associated with these intense greeting behaviors and greeting-rumbles are social-trumpets and social-roars (see under this section).
Prior to an elephant Greeting-Ceremony, calling may be heard back and forth between two converging groups. These initial calls sound like, and may be better classified as, contact-calls (see under Logistical calls). As the groups convergegreeting-rumbles typically begin with a series of powerful, modulated and overlapping calls, giving way to softer, less modulated rumbles that may continue for some minutes (see below). These softer rumbles are structurally quite different from the initial intense greeting-rumbles.
The more intense initial rumbles vary enormously, although they all show some degree of modulation in frequency and are of medium to long duration. Unfortunately, these calls are difficult to measure because the calls of so many individuals overlap. Within a single greeting-ceremony, arched, skewed, arched with a wiggly contour, bimodal, bimodal and skewed, and multi-modal rumbles occur.
During intense greetings elephants reach their trunks out toward, or to touch, other individuals. While the variability in calling may simply reflect the intensity of excitement, it may, alternatively, reveal additional information, such as a caller's signature or perhaps even reference to specific individuals.
Is there a simple functional explanation for this remarkable cacophony of sound and scent? Could it be, for example, just an unemotional announcement to distant elephants that the unit is once again a force to be reckoned with? Or do greeting-ceremonies express the deep sense of joy elephants feel at being reunited with friends? Do their rumbles and roars express to one another something like: "Wow! It's simply fantastic to be with you again!"
Many of the visual and tactile behaviors (and perhaps the vocalizations) that occur during a greeting-ceremony are also seen in a wide variety of other situations such as during reconciliations, after the rescue of a calf, following a mating (known as a mating-pandemonium). In may be that in these very similar displays elephants are giving a show of solidarity and that all of these circumstance could, instead be labelled bonding-ceremonies (see this section).
Bonding-Ceremony 1
Elephants are highly expressive and demonstrative animals, and they vocalize loudly and in chorus under a wide variety of different circumstances. Behavior similar to the greeting-ceremony may occur following the birth of an elephant, a mating (mating-pandemonium), the rescue of a calf, an aggressive interaction with another group, when the group has been threatened in any way, or when close associates are reunited.
In all of these cases a series of often powerful, overlapping, rumbles including a wide variety of contours, often interspersed with trumpets and roars, may be heard. It may be more appropriate to term these collectively as "Bonding-Ceremonies" a signal to participants, and to more distant listeners, that the callers are members of a supportive unit, and that together they form a united front.
Similar to social grooming in primates, bonding-ceremonies reinforce bonds between individuals whose loyalty and support are needed to ensure individuals survival and well-being.
Social-Trumpet 5
Within the context of a Bonding-Ceremony, trumpeting by individuals overlaps with the lower frequency rumbling produced by other elephants. We refer to trumpets produced during these excited bonding events as Social-Trumpets. These trumpets are structurally not significantly different from harmonic-play-trumpets though they are significantly different from the other proposed trumpet context-types.
Trumpets emitted in a social context function, in effect, as a form of exclamation mark, defining the level of significance of an event. While the type of rumbling may indicate of the type of event (e.g. mating, greeting, conflict), we propose that the frequency, and perhaps even the placement, of trumpeting may be an indication of the level of excitement and "importance" that the elephants collectively confer on an event. In a sense the use of trumpets might be viewed as a simple form of syntax qualifying the sequence of calls, although more research is needed.
Social-Roar 5
During moments of peak excitement female adult, juvenile and even calves may emit powerful roars. Such roars are typically noisy-roars combined with a rumble, characteristically being in the form rumble-noisy-roar-rumble. Similar tosocial-trumpets, roaring appears to signify the emotional intensity of an event.
We suspect that additional data may well reveal these roars to be different from roars emitted during distress.
Logistical 0
Elephants live in a complex society that is remarkable for its fluidity, on the one hand, and its close and enduring social relationships on the other. Relationships between elephants are particularly complex because individuals interact with many others from different social units across a population, and cooperative social partners may not always be together in the same group. In fact, members of the same family are frequently kilometers apart, and much of a family's daily activity may be focused on calling to, and listening in for the answers of, close associates or, alternatively, circumventing individuals they wish to avoid. Elephants communicate with distant members of their family by contact-calling.
Although the Amboseli elephant population is relatively small (in 2014 numbering about 1,400), it is, nevertheless, a big society. A female elephant in Amboseli may seek the company of and/or purposefully avoid literally hundreds of other individuals in the course of her daily range. She is able to accomplish this through her ability to distinguish the voices of genuine strangers from a wide range of more regular associates and family.
Day-to-day decision-making, for instance, deciding when and where to go, involves vocal proposals such as the "let's go" rumble and often the building of consensus through cadenced-rumble exchanges that may last up to an hour. These complex negotiations of elephants are extremely exciting and certainly deserve more research.
Contact-Calling 9
Elephants use powerful, throaty, modulated rumbles at sound pressure levels of up to 115 dB to keep in audible contact with one another over distances of 1-2 km. These vocalizations are referred to as contact-calls.
A contact-call sequence may include several rumbles: A caller's initial rumble is associated with rhythmic ear flapping and is followed by Listening behavior: the caller's head is held in an attentive lifted position with ears cocked as if waiting for a response, as if querying, "I am here, where are you?" An answering elephant typically responds with an unexpected (because the initial caller is often distant and the rumble often inaudible to human listeners), explosive rumble that is preceded by an abrupt lifting of the head as if Listening, her response seemingly stating, "I am over here." The initial caller, upon hearing an answer, may respond with another call, often associated with a more relaxed posture, as if sending confirmation that an answer has been received. Nearby family members may also add their voice(s) to the second or third phase of the sequence, and calling back and forth may continue intermittently over hours until the callers meet again.
Separated by long distances, elephants contact-call at high sound pressure levels, but, as might be expected, elephants also call back and forth to one another over shorter distances at lower sound pressure levels. Adult females, juveniles and calves all use contact-calls. As far as we are aware adult males do not use the powerful long-distance version, but we would not be surprised to hear that adult males in tightly bonded groups do.
Most contact-calls last between 4 and 6.5 seconds and are modulated in frequency contour, typically rising sharply and falling more gradually (skewed left). There exists a wide range of variation in the contours of contact-calls, however, that may be related to whether the individual is the initial caller or the one answering. In 2002 McComb showed that the contact-calls of individuals are structurally distinct and audibly identifiable to other elephants. In other words, contact-calls contain an acoustic signature. It is possible that considerable additional information is contained in the different variations of the calls, perhaps related excitement level of the callers, their inter-individual distance, the sequential arrangement (i.e. call, answer, confirmation), or to logistical or locational information. Future research may answer some of these questions.
"Let's Go"-Rumble 6
An elephant indicates that she wishes to depart by calling, by exhibiting intention movements, and by pointing in the direction she wishes to travel using the axis of her body. Standing intently at edge of her group, facing in the direction she wishes to travel, she emits, with slow, rhythmic ear flapping, a moderately loud, low-pitched, long, relatively flat rumble.
The calling elephant repeats her "Let's go," appeal once every minute or so, sometimes calling for periods of up to half an hour, as she tries to persuade others to depart. She may gain the support of other individuals who join in her calling, but typically this is a solo call that we refer to as the "let's go"-rumble. The "let's go" is, in essence, a proposal: "I want to go this direction, let's go together." It is audibly distinguishable from most other elephant rumbles due to its characteristic long drawn-out quality and the posture of the calling elephant, but it can be confused in the field with the cadenced-rumble (see Logistical section).
The "let's go" rumble is one of the more commonly heard sounds among a family of elephants. There is a tendency for older females to produce this call more frequently than younger females, though less commonly juvenile and adult males may be heard to call. While matriarchs may propose a plan of action using the "let's go" rumble, very often they simply move off without making any obvious audible suggestion, except perhaps a Flap-Slide motion with her ears (indicating a change of activity), presumably expecting (or at least hoping) others to follow without discussion! This is certainly not always the case, and many a "disagreement" and "discussion" takes place regarding plans of action in an elephant family.
Cadenced-Rumble 5
Not uncommonly vocal exchanges between related adult females may be heard that have the cadence of a conversation, rising and falling, as first one individual and then another contributes her voice. Other females may join the initiating individuals in a sequence of low-pitched, moderate intensity, relatively flat, long rumbles. This pattern of rumbling is most often heard as a series of very slightly overlapping or closely adjacent calls interchanged over the course of several minutes up to an hour.
The patterning of vocal exchange has such a cadence of conversation (in particular what sounds like a higher pitch/lower pitch exchange) that we refer to this as a cadenced-rumble. Adult females appear to use cadenced-rumbles to "lend their voice to" a proposed plan of action, usually, it seems, regarding where to go and when to depart. This call is similar in structure to the "let's go", but unlike the "let's go", we have been unable to detect any particular axis of the body that would indicate directionality. In fact, the call is unusual in that the vocalizing females continue to feed (or whatever activity they were engaged in) without looking up or showing any particularly attentive behavior. We have heard elephants from age four and upwards (including juvenile, though not adult, males) participate, in such bouts of calling.
While cadenced-rumbles sometimes appear to start "spontaneously," they are more often associated with another event such as: group departure, a group member proposing departure, a group member making contact from a distance, a group member rejoining the group, or the reinforcing of bonds.
Cadenced-rumbles are often heard following a series of "let's go" calls and a series cadenced-rumbles may contain calls that are difficult to distinguish from "let's go" rumbles. This may be because there are "let's go" rumbles interspersed among the other calls or because they are one and the same call. Much additional research is needed to clarify the temporal pattern and usage of these calls, but from the behavior of the elephants the cadenced-rumble appears to represent a complex level of consensus building and negotiation between family members.
It appears as if one individual proposes a course of action (using the let's go-rumble, for example) and then a period of negotiation and consensus building follows ending in either concordance or disagreement. Agreement is sometimes evident when individuals gather together rumbling with heads raised and touching.
Play 0
In the context of play, calves, juveniles and adults of both sexes produce a variety of trumpets. The majority of these are shrill harmonic sounds; others are distinctly nasal, while still others are pulsated. All trumpeting by elephants is associated with a high level of excitement whether emitted during exuberant play, stimulating social events, or threatening, frightening or startling situations. Yet, trumpets are different enough that just by hearing one it is possible to make a fairly accurate assessment of the context in which it occurs.
In the context of play it has been our impression that elephants may be imitating the form of trumpet made by nearby playmates, as there is a tendency for nasal-play-trumpets to be temporally associated with other nasal-play-trumpets and pulsated-play-trumpets to be associated with pulsated-play-trumpets. Additional data will be required, however, to determine whether elephants are using vocal imitation in play.
Lone and Social Play 0
Trumpeting is associated with lively play. Elephant are likely to trumpet during social, object and lone locomotor play - so long as the play is exuberant.
Harmonic-Play-Trumpet 4
Harmonic-play-trumpets are typically short high-pitched, high intensity sounds associated with lone locomotor and social play. Some harmonic-play-trumpets have a flatter reverberating sound almost like a loud nose-blow and spectrographically these show more noise. Elephants of both sexes and all ages also produce a shortened form of play trumpet referred to by Berg (1983) as a trump.
Mock-Charge-Play-Trumpet 5
Similar to the harmonic-play-trumpet, but exhibiting a more prolonged and resolute quality is a trumpet that is associated with Mock-Charging behavior.
Cavorting elephants often chase other species in their environment (such as rabbits, hyenas, wildebeests, monkeys) during which they trumpet loudly.
We term trumpets associated with this form of play, mock-charge-play-trumpets. These trumpets are significantly longer in duration than harmonic-play-trumpets.
Pulsated-Play-Trumpet 7
Highly spirited play is characterized by Floppy-Running behavior (see Gestures database) and trumpeting that is expelled in a sequence of breathy pulses as the elephant moves at a fast gait. We refer to this trumpet as a pulsated-play-trumpet.Pulsated-play-trumpets are significantly longer in duration and more modulated in frequency contour than the harmonic-play-trumpet.
Nasal-Play-Trumpet 5
As play escalates a fourth form of trumpet may be heard which, as air is forced slowly through the upper part of the nasal passages and reverberates down the length of the trunk, sounds like a large man blowing his nose. These trumpets are noisier and significantly lower in frequency than all other trumpets and are referred to as nasal-play-trumpets.
Elephant Gestures Database 0
Welcome to the ElephantVoices Gestures Database©. This revised version of Poole and Granli, 2003 was published in April 2009. We will continue to update and fine-tune the database over the years, and we hope that you will visit again.
We are happy for any use of the database toward the better understanding, conservation and welfare of elephants. Please cite the database as "Poole, J.H. & Granli, P.K. 2009. ElephantVoices Gestures Database, http://www.elephantvoices.org, or, where appropriate, to the original source material as referenced.
You will find background information about the database here, and the full reference list here.
If you have comments or suggestions, mail us! To view the full sitemap for the database, click here.
Aggressive 0
Escalation 14
Retreat 4
Threat 16
Ambivalent 0
Apprehensive 14
Defensive 0
Sexual 0
Play 0
FAQ's 0
Frequently Asked Questions about elephants in captivity 30
Below you will find our answers to some of the many questions that are raised about the well being of elephants in captivity and in the wild.
The foundation for our expertise is decades of research and observations on the behavior of elephants under a broad range of situations in the wild - together with increasing experience with elephants in captivity. Some of our answers are based on empirical evidence, while others are personal reflections and opinions, emerging from our knowledge and ethical standpoint combined. Against the background of a rapidly changing scientific milieu, one's perspective on animals and their welfare ultimately comes down to one's own particular moral stand, one's values, experiences and beliefs.
We have tried to be short on a very difficult and sensitive subject. In doing so we will have undoubtedly left out important justifications for our conclusions – but you can find numerous scientific papers and online sources, if you want to know more. This Elephant Interests section on ElephantVoices is among these. The book "The Elephant In the Room: The Science and Well-being of Elephants in Captivity" and our chapter Poole, J & Granli, P. 2008. Mind and Movement: Meeting the Interests of Elephants. (2.19 MB) is another source.
We cannot know for certain what an elephant, captive or wild, is thinking about her or his situation – just as we cannot know, for certain, what goes on in the minds of other people. We rely on people to tell us and we read their facial expressions and body postures. Through experience and observing patterns of behavior, we become very good at reading human body language. Similarly, through years of watching elephants, we have become extremely good at reading the body language and predicting the behavior of elephants. And, we do believe that the FAQ below will give you a pretty good insight in what captive elephants may be experiencing.
You are welcome to send us your own question(s), and we will try to include good questions of general interest in future updates of the captive elephant FAQ! You can search on any word within the questions and answers below, and thereby find questions related to zoo's, circuses, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions about elephant communication 22
Here we have compiled answers to some of the many questions that we receive about elephant communication.
You can search on any word located in the questions or answers and, thereby, read more about various topics and issues you may be interested in.
You are also welcome to send us your own question(s) and, in future updates of the communication FAQ, we will try to answer those that we think are of general interest!


text: 1951 World War One Rating: I've never been a huge fan of flying games. My first taste of the genre was The arcade classic Afterburner, however after many humiliating defeats in the local arcade I soon moved on from that. Then I had the idea of testing my skilled of being … Read the Full Story →

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Posts Tagged 'Earl Bittles'
On This Day … 12 September
1829 – Johann Hallman was born in Prussia 184 years ago to Andreas Hallman & Theresia Funk. (2nd great-granduncle)
1900 – Earl Bittles was born in Chicago, Illinois 113 years ago to Thomas Bittles & Mary Kelsey. (2nd cousin 3x removed)
1903 – Theresa Kwart was born in Detroit, Michigan 110 years ago to John Kwart Jr. & Martha Richard. (1st cousin 3x removed)
1904 – Celia Soik was born in Michigan 109 years ago to Anthony Soik & Anna Dettloff. (1st cousin 3x removed)
1914 – Cecilia Hallman was born in Detroit, Michigan 99 years ago to Frank Hallman & Anna Hincka. (greataunt)
1938 – Mary Kessler Schulte died 75 years ago in Detroit, Michigan. She was 80 years old. (2nd great-grandmother)
If you have information about any of these people or if you would like more information, please contact me!


text:
JUMPING in the PUDDLES of LIFE Loretta Livingstone (FULL COLOUR EDITION)
De Loretta Livingstone
56 pages of verse. Funny, Uplifting, Spiritual, Love Poems. You'll find something for everyone here. All printed on beautiful full colour photographs. A delightful gift. Go on! Treat yourself. This edition also available to download on your Kindle or Kobo. Just choose the pdf option.
Acerca del autor
IMPORTANT. If you are purchasing the Kindle format please bear in mind, that if your Kindle is only able to do black and white it would probably be best for you to download the monochrome format of JUMPING in the PUDDLES of LIFE. If you will be reading it on your iPad, or your Kindle has colour then for the best visual experience please ensure you download the full colour edition. They show up as two separate books so please take care to choose the right one for you.
Obviously I would love it if you buy my books, but if you can't afford them then please feel free to read the previews anyway. I hope they bless you. If they do, please join my blog on Facebook and also please tell all your friends. Thank you.
Please note the Author portrait is provided by Nicky Sharp from Inspirational Photography www.inspirationalphotography.co.uk
Fecha de publicación 27 de septiembre de 2012
Dimensiones De bolsillo 60 páginas
Impresión en color (en papel no estucado blanco)
Categoría Fe y religión
Conéctese o cree una cuenta para publicar un comentario.
Comience a crear su propio libro hoy desde 3.99 US $.
Sitios de Blurb


text:
CONWAY, SC (WMBF) – Governor Nikki Haley said that she wants Bikefest to end in the Grand Strand at a meeting with area leaders Friday morning.
Gov. Haley had been scheduled to meet with leaders at the Conway Emergency Operations Center to discuss hurricane preparedness, but after the string of violent incidents over Memorial Day Weekend, Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes and other leaders said they wanted to discuss these issues with the governor.
"There is nothing worse that a governor wants to see than Myrtle Beach on the front page of USA Today in a negative light," Gov. Haley said. "In a time where we are trying to improve the tourism in South Carolina, trying to bring jobs to South Carolina trying to show everybody why Horry County is such a great place to live, work, vacation and raise a family, this was not something to be proud of."
Gov. Haley said that the string of shootings that left three people dead and more injured was not a problem with law enforcement, but a problem with the event itself.
"This is no longer a law enforcement issue," Gov. Haley said. "Our law enforcement was stellar. We had more than enough people – 273 we sent from the state."
She questioned how Atlantic Beach leaders could claim the violence wasn't the result of Bikefest, and reiterated that the whole event has to go. She added that she intends to sit down with the Atlantic Beach leadership to discuss how to boost the economy and tourism for the area without Bikefest.
"It is time for that Bikefest to come to an end, and that is the way that I am going to talk to the elected officials of Atlantic Beach, and I think it's time for everybody in Horry County to come together and say, 'No more. We are proud of our state, we are proud of the look of our state, we are proud of the actions of our state, we are proud of the people of our state," Gov. Haley said.
Myrtle Beach Mayor Rhodes, North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley, Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus, and Myrtle Beach Councilman Randal Wallace were all pleased to hear what the governor had to say.
"That is what I wanted to hear," Mayor Rhodes said.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce released the following statement in response to Haley's remarks Friday afternoon:
For statements and reactions from other area leaders, click here:
For the latest details on all the shooting incidents over last weekend, click here:
Copyright 2014 WMBF News. All rights reserved.
1111 Bull St.
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 799-1010
FCC Public File
EEO Report
Closed Captioning


text:
Fashionable good looks and gradient compression to relieve tired aching legs and mild varicose veins.
Jobst has developed the ideal combination of therapeutic effectiveness and sheer lightweight fashionable appearance in UltraSheer Medical LegWear.
This unique design is accomplished by knitting very fine uncovered spandex and nylon yarns with state-of-the-art computerized precision.
Product Features:
- Jobst UltraSheer is the perfect hosiery for any casual work or elegant occasion.
- Extremely sheer.
- Reinforced toe offers extra durability.
- Sheer heel.
- Beautiful floral lace band stays up!
- Incredibly durable.
Features: 20-30 & 30-40mmHg gradient compression sheerest in its class lightweight breathable; sheer fashion colors; machine washable.
Colors: Classic Black Natural Sun Bronze Sizes S-XL
Available in both of the following styles: Lace Silicone Strip and Silicone Dot Band.
(Please note: for health reasons stockings are non-returnable)
|bsn-ultrasheer thigh high


text:
Astros outright Geary to Triple-A
Pitcher clears waivers, has three days to accept assignment
HOUSTON -- When Astros relief pitcher Geoff Geary arrived at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday afternoon, he was informed by team management he was being activated from the disabled list. But instead of heading to the bullpen, Geary was outrighted to Triple-A Round Rock. Astros general manager Ed Wade said Geary has three days to accept the assignment or become a free agent.
Geary, acquired from Philadelphia in the trade for Brad Lidge following the 2007 season, was one of the key members of the Astros' bullpen last year, but he had struggled to stay healthy this season. And when he was healthy, he was ineffective.
He didn't return a phone message seeking comment.
Geary went 1-3 with an 8.10 ERA in 16 appearances before going on the disabled list May 14 with tendinitis in his right biceps. He was originally scheduled to go on a Minor League rehab last week, but he opted to continue his rehab with the team.
Wade, who had Geary while both were with the Philadelphia Phillies, was hopeful Geary would accept the assignment.
"The guy pitched in 55 games for us last year and he was effective, particularly in that sixth-inning role," Wade said. "We'd love to have him back to where he was a year ago, but in the meantime [Alberto] Arias and [Jeff] Fulchino have pitched well for us."
While Geary was on the DL, fellow right-handers Arias and Fulchino pitched well in relief. Arias has a 3.38 ERA in 13 appearances, and Fulchino is 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 16 appearances.
Geary, 32, was 2-3 with a career-best 2.53 ERA in his first season in Houston in 2008 and held right-handers to a .182 average. He was optimistic about returning to the bullpen following a simulated game he threw Tuesday.
"I feel I'm throwing the ball more effectively than I have before," Geary said after he threw two 20-pitch innings against teammates. "It's out of my hands from here, but I'm ready without a doubt. All I can do is wait until they make a decision."
Brian McTaggart is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Availability: In stock
Email to a Friend
Be the first to review this product
Popular cult icon recreated as a hanging decoration.
ironic and classic icons, seletti charms can be attached everywhere and anywhere: on bags, around your neck, in your car, on unconventional christmas trees, etc. just choose your own style. made from porcelain. available in black and white.
You have no items in your shopping cart.


text:
Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. If you have any questions or comments about this page please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
SOURCE Men's Health
8 Finalists Compete for the Title and Chance to Star in Fitness DVD Series
NEW YORK, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Men's Health, the world's best-selling fitness and lifestyle magazine published by Rodale Inc., today launched its first reality competition series, The Search for the Next Top Trainer. The 8-week web series follows 8 contestants in their quest to be named the Next Top Trainer, become a fitness/training advisor to Men's Health, and star in his own fitness DVD series, produced by Rodale Inc.
The Next Top Trainer competition is sponsored by EAS Sports Nutrition as part of its "The Best is Within" campaign, which aims to inspire, motivate and prepare individuals each day to achieve their personal best.
Men's Health kicked off the search for the Next Top Trainer in March with a nationwide call for entries and live casting event. Hundreds of applications were received and an elite group of judges including, Adam Campbell, Men's Health Fitness Director, and expert trainers David Jack and B.J. Gaddour narrowed the field down to the top 8 finalists:
Paul Theodore (Westlake, OH), Andrew Speer (New York, NY), Doron Willis (Studio City, CA), Joe Carabase (Vernon, CT), Kevin Mullins (Washington, DC), Pete Isip (Nutley, NJ), Eric Brown (Roslyn, PA), and Graham Mitchell (Los Angeles, CA).
Tune in to menshealth.com/toptrainer every Monday through July to watch the drama unfold as the finalists go head-to-head in a variety of challenges with the best fitness pros in the business.
"To represent the Men's Health brand is an incredible opportunity and a huge responsibility-the Next Top Trainer will have to prove he's worthy of this title," said Men's Health Fitness Director, Adam Campbell. "We're looking for someone who excels in every single facet of fitness, from exercise instruction to workout programming and motivational coaching."
Follow Men's Health on Twitter @menshealthmag and on Facebook. Search the hashtag #TopTrainer for updates.
About Men's Health: Men's Health is the go-to source for the latest information and expert advice about a healthy and active lifestyle. Published 10 times a year in the U.S. by Rodale, Men's Health is the world's best-selling men's magazine providing nearly 13 million readers with up-to-the-minute information on health, fitness, fashion, nutrition, relationships, travel, technology and finance. Men's Health offers 41 editions in 65 countries, a host of apps for Smartphone subscribers, as well as branded books, eBooks and microsites. The magazine has garnered numerous industry accolades and was deemed by Media Industry Newsletter as the "#1 Most Notable Magazine Launch of the Last 25 Years. For news from Men's Health, visit Menshealth.com, and get instant updates on Twitter (@MensHealthMag) and Facebook (Men's Health).
About EAS: Abbott, a global health care company and maker of EAS products, has more than 85 years of innovation in leading-edge nutritional science. Whether you are an elite athlete, fitness enthusiast or weekend warrior, EAS develops performance nutrition products that can help you play hard and recover strong. A brand you can trust, EAS and its team of scientists, researchers and all-around fitness enthusiasts take pride in making products that are impactful, clean and safe – so you can keep pushing yourself to the next level. Visit EAS.com or facebook.com/EASbrand.
Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/NTT_SIZZLEREEL_v3.mp4
©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Sperry Drilling Services
Be The First To
Add Photos
Sperry Drilling Services (formerly Sperry-Sun Drilling Services) knows the drill; it doesn't need to stop and ask for directions. The company, a business segment of Halliburton, provides directional drilling services to oil and gas customers worldwide. The oil field services and support company also offers measurement-while-drilling and logging-while-drilling systems used to collect geographical surveys and drilling information. Sperry Drilling Services offers multilateral technology developed to increase reservoir exposure by using complex drainage architecture.
This is the employer's chance to tell you why you should work for them. The information provided is from their perspective.
Working at Sperry Drilling Services
Employees are "Satisfied" 10 ratings
80% of the CEO 5 ratings
Christopher Gaut
"Great money, mediocre schedule"
Current Employee
Pros: Money, Benefits, and Time off – Full Review
M\LWD Engineer at Sperry Drilling Services (student candidate)
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Khobar (Saudi Arabia) Dec 2011 – Reviewed Mar 25, 2013
Interview Details Apply on Halliburton site. Receive a call for a test about physics, mathematics and questions for smart people. Then interview about general life and last presenting a topic about Halliburton on front of some mangers. This process is for KSA. – Full Interview
Interview Question:
There was no difficult or unexpected question. – Answer Question
More Sperry Drilling Services Interview Questions & Reviews (1)
Sperry Drilling Services Awards and Accolades
Let us know if we're missing any workplace or industry recognition – Add an award


text:
School shootings: Maryland school installs armored white boards in classroomsComment
The recent school shootings have sparked nationwide debate over how to handle and improve school security. In Maryland, one school added another layer of defense last week, something that blends into any classroom.
RecommendedRecent Facebook Activity
Only On 7
The Queen Latifah Show Weekdays at 4pm on ABC7!Watch "The Queen Latifah Show" weekdays at 4pm followed by Leon Harris and Alison Starling on ABC7 News at 5. Click here to find out more about "The Queen Latifah Show!"


text:
After a week's hiatus, the Banter is back with all its hockey goodness.
The Breakers have cut dies with Dilboy Stadium, partnering with Harvard Stadium in Allston, Mass. for the 2014 season.
Fear not New England! There's still plenty of soccer to follow, and perhaps bragging rights to gain in the Revs locker room, during the 2013 NCAA Soccer Championships.
The move is made in the wake of injuries suffered yesterday in Boston.
The Tampa Bay Lightning played a matinee in Boston, but wasn't able to leave with two more points.
Written by Peter Mandeau I was the deeply closeted assistant coach of Harvard men's tennis team in 2003, when I accidentally outed myself. I was in my office one day prior to an afternoon practice,...
The Lightning team schedule has been changed, the team roster has been changed, the lineup has been changed... But one thing remains exactly the same: the Rangers will host the Lightning at Madison...
A brief rundown of the Tampa Bay Lightning's selections and moves on Day Two of the 201 NHL Draft.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have added another prospect to their depth chart in the organization, inking 2007 draft selection and Harvard Crimson alumni Alex Killorn to a two-year deal.
With the Winter Olympics beginning in Vancouver and NBA All-Star Weekend revving up in Dallas, much of the oxygen in the sports world was devoted to those two events in some combination on Friday...
As part of the new SB Nation launch, prior users will need to choose a permanent username, along with a new password.
Your username will be used to login to SB Nation going forward.
Please login to your Vox Media account. This account will be linked to your previously existing Eater account.
As part of the new SB Nation launch, prior MT authors will need to choose a new username and password.
Your username will be used to login to SB Nation going forward.
We'll email you a reset link.
If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.
You must be a member of Outsports to participate.
We have our own Community Guidelines at Outsports. You should read them.
You must be a member of Outsports to participate.
We have our own Community Guidelines at Outsports. You should read them.
Choose an available username to complete sign up.
In order to provide our users with a better overall experience, we ask for more information from Facebook when using it to login so that we can learn more about our audience and provide you with the best possible experience. We do not store specific user data and the sharing of it is not required to login with Facebook.