Abstract:

Research projects by K. Payne, W. Langbauer, E. Thomas, and J. Poole have shown that Asian and African elephants make powerful infrasonic calls, some of which are used in long-distance communication. Although full classification has not been achieved, some of these calls are social, others reproductive; behavioral responses show individual recognition. Playback experiments yielded a measure of the distances over which conspecifics respond during daylight hours (Langbauer et al.) and of the social information imbedded in certain clearly definable calls (K. McCoun). Long-distance communication appears to be implicated in the coordinated movements between separated elephant families; a field study using radio collars with implanted voice-activated microphones yielded suggestive results (Langbauer et al.). A meteorological study by meteorologists M. Garstang and D. Larom led them to predict large-scale diurnal fluctuations in low-frequency sound propagation in dry season savannas. They and Payne plan to collaborate in research on the relation between these phenomena and calling behaviors of savanna animals. [Support for the presenter's projects came from World Wildlife, National Geographic, NSF, and a Guggenheim fellowship.]