While careful human listeners might hear elephant conversations, elephants, particularly chatty females, converse in low-pitched rumbles that often are missed by human ears, according to two related studies, which have been accepted for publication in the journal
Animal Behavior.
Similar to humans ignoring conversations at other tables in a restaurant, elephant strangers do not pay much attention to each other.
"Female friends exchange rumbles even when they are out of sight from one another, and their voices differ from one another, so I believe that they can recognize each other by their voices alone, just as humans and many other social animals can do," said Joseph Soltis, who led the study.
He added, "Females that have known each other for many decades, for example, often engage in rumble exchanges, but females who haven't known each other very long do not respond to each other's calls."
Soltis, a research scientist in bioacoustics at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and his colleagues placed radio collars on six female elephants that live at the park. All recorded sounds were computer-analyzed and compared with filmed footage of the elephants.
The recordings indicate that each elephant has its own voice.
