Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication
ELEPHANT TALK A FOREST ELEPHANT In the Central African Republic in a remote forest near the border with Cameroon a small dark brown elephant with pink tusks is moving through the trees This is a forest elephant a member of a shy and still mysterious species She pauses at the edge of a clearing her adult eldest daughter and three calves of different ages gathered behind her One hundred elephants have gathered in this swampy place to drink and dig up the nutrient rich mud salts They have been dyed different pastel colors by the various muds they've wallowed in Using her sense of smell and perhaps recognizing the sounds of elephants she knows this elephant mother decides it's all right this is a family reunion As she leads her offspring into the clearing they are greeted by their relatives Sisters and aunts and cousins welcome the newcomers with noisy calls The calls are picked up by special recording equipment hidden high in the trees around the edges of the A group of African forest elephants digs up minerals from the mud in this forest clearing in the Central African Republic Their tusks are tinged pink from the minerals
A TALE OF THREE ELEPHANTS clearing The elephants don't know it but their very survival may depend on what researchers can learn from these recordings AN ASIAN ELEPHANT Thousands of miles away in a North American zoo a thirty four year old female Asian elephant called Daisy is beginning her own day This morning she is scheduled for a checkup by the zoo's head veterinarian Her keeper is worried that she might have injured her foot Daisy's ears swivel this way and that as she monitors the sounds around her Amid the excited buzz of a group of elementary school students on a field trip she detects a sound she recognizes She raises her head and stands very still to listen It's the motor of the electric jeep that brings the vet to the elephant barn Shortly thereafter she hears the vet greeting the elephant barn staff Daisy knows the vet's voice and the elephant gives an anxious rumble It is picked up by her elder sisters Magnolia and Orchid who offer sympathetic rumbles in retum Magnolia's three year old calf Zara thinks it is feeding time and wanders over to the gate to greet the keeper But Daisy is still anxious A forty year old Asian elephant named Bamboo receives a foot cleaning from her keeper at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle Washington
ELEPHANT TALK The keeper comes into the elephant barn to move Daisy to the smaller barred enclosure where the medical exam will take place He is speaking to her in a reassuring voice and she calms down a little She can smell apples in his pockets She snakes the tip of her trunk over his jacket feeling the outline of the fruit The vet comes in to the enclosure and greets Daisy and the keeper gives Daisy the command to lift up her foot She's been taught to do this so exams will be easier on everyone The vet determines that Daisy has an infected toenail on one of her front feet As the vet and the keeper discuss the treatment Daisy gets her food reward As she crunches the apple she flaps her cars in contentment The worst is over and it was not so bad ASIA TIBET CHINA BHUTAN NEPAL MYANMAR BURMA BANGLADESH INDIA PACIFIC OCEAN LAOS THAILAND VEINAM SRI LANKA CAMBODIA Sarawak MALAYSA Kalimantan INDIAN OCEAN Sumatre INDONESIA AREAS WHERE ASIAN ELEPHANTS LIVE
A TALE OF THREE ELEPHANTS FAST FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANTS Loxodonta africana African savanna elephant Range Sub Saharan Africa limited to scattered habitats and wildlife reserves Maximum height Males 12 feet 3.6 meters females 9 feet 2.7 m Maximum weight 8,000 to 13,000 pounds 3,600 to 6,000 kilograms Distinguishing features Large ears each up to 4 feet 1 m across swayed back dark gray skin Loxodonta cyclotis African forest elephant Range Dense forests of the Congo Basin in Africa Maximum height Males 8.2 feet 2.5 m females 6.8 feet 2.1 m Maximum weight 6,000 to 13,000 pounds 2,700 to 6,000 kg Distinguishing features Dark brown skin small pink tusks Elephas maximus Asian elephant Range Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia Maximum height Males 9 feet 2.7 m females 8 feet 2.4 m Maximum weight Males 12,000 pounds 5,400 kg females 6,000 pounds 2,700 kg Distinguishing features Small ears about 16 inches 41 centimeters wide rounded back skin gray brown Females lack large tusks Subspecies Some scientists recognize elephants of India Sri Lanka and Borneo as three subspecies in the genus Elephas
