Hi Big Ears! Hello Elephants!

Sounds can be clever breadcrumbs to follow when the Hansel and Gretel here are elephants in a thick forest somewhere in Africa. They can lead us to surprising discoveries on how elephants live, communicate and interact. And also help to save them from the bad guys. A team at Cornell is busy doing just that.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that elephants may enjoy music and respond positively to certain sounds and rhythms. In certain studies and observations, elephants have manifested a strong reaction to certain musical instruments, such as drums. They even seem to sway or dance in time with the music. Other reports show that elephants are capable of recognizing familiar songs and remembering them for long periods of time. Elephants and music seem to be quite intertwined.

And we also know that Elephants play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of their ecosystem. They disperse seeds, create clearings and waterholes. This is how they help other species, and help to shape the habitats they live in. Unfortunately, today, Elephants are facing numerous threats, including habitat loss, poaching, and illegal hunting for ivory. By studying elephants and their conservation needs, we can better understand the challenges that are facing many species and develop effective strategies for protecting them. Also, studying their social structures and interactions can provide important insights into animal behavior and intelligence. How can we forget that Elephants have been revered and respected by many cultures throughout history! They continue to be a symbol of strength, wisdom, and longevity. By studying elephants and working to protect them, we can preserve not only a species, but also an important part of human cultural heritage.

That’s something that is happening at Cornell. Yes, the Cornell University’s Elephant Listening Project is using acoustics monitoring to conserve the tropical forests of Africa with a focus on forest elephants. It was spawned in 2007 for gathering new data from the forests of Central Africa. The idea is to achieve conservation goals, and build capacity in Central Africa to ensure sustainable conservation into the future. So far, this hard-working team has collected sounds from the forest at 32 different locations. Most of these sounds have been monitored continuously for years. We are talking about the world’s largest archive of sounds from Central Africa– almost one million hours. It has also made its impact on other areas of exploration – like the effects of oil exploration on elephant behavior, work on seasonal use at a multitude of forest clearings, successful alerts on illegal hunting and probes on the nocturnal behavior of forest elephants.

It was in 1984 when Katy Payne discovered that often their communication happens below the threshold of human hearing. Till then, there was little knowledge about the sound aspect of elephant communication. When we think of human audible, frequencies; they rapidly attenuate in the warm humid air and by the time a call has traveled 50-100 meters, only the lowest, inaudible frequencies are left. That’s why the idea of Acoustic arrays, which allow us to tell where a call originated. Even if calls can be so low that we can’t hear them from an observation tower, an array can be a useful answer- it can tell us who gave a call that was associated with some interesting behavior. Plus, Acoustics unravel a much larger range compared to images or video.

Daniela Hedwig, Research Associate/Team lead Elephant Listening Project at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell University, takes out some time to give us a peek into this fascinating initiative. She has previously led a biomonitoring program in a National Park in Gabon and worked with WWF Germany on wildlife crime related issues, focusing on the African elephant poaching crisis. So what happens when they hang these devices on trees in these deep forests? How do they study elephant behavior and movement?

Tell us about this project – how it works and what it aims to capture?

The devices work with Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs), which can record unsupervised for extended periods of time in nature. The K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics was an early leader in the design and use of ARUs – both for ocean and on land. This helps us to work well in remote forests – with teams for maintaining the recording grid and collecting the data. We collect sounds to understand elephant behavior and biodiversity of forests in Africa. With this eavesdropping, we record their sounds and the soundscapes of forests. And we also help anti-poaching teams with alerts on hunter movements. This helps law-enforcement people and in devising better anti-poaching efforts with better protection of elephant. Our data is also helpful for guidance on elephant corridors and prediction of suitable habitats.

We can match types of calls with behaviors to build a sort of “dictionary” of elephant vocalizations. It is fascinating to note that Elephants are capable of making extremely low frequency and powerful calls — sometimes as loud as construction tools (90 to 117 dB Sound Pressure Level). Under the best ambient conditions, these low sounds carry over distances of several kilometers and might enable elephants to stay in contact despite separation in the dense rain forest.

Elephants are gardeners and architects of forests

Why elephants?

They are the gardeners and architects of forests. They spread seeds, they eat herbs and shrubs so they also help in promoting growth of seedlings. They are very crucial for some tree species and for biodiversity of forests – example – Bush Mango. In directly, they help in creating a buffer for carbon with better forests. If they go extinct, then we face grave climate change problems. They play a key role there. Plus, they are so charismatic, intelligent and friendly as creatures.

We are beginning to understand their habitats, effects of seasonality and response to logging.

What have you got so far – insights and results?

We are beginning to understand forest elephants and their behavior in a precise and intimate way. Like their habitats, effects of seasonality and response to logging. Our data helped us to see why they prefer secondary forests and how they respond to logging operations. It helps us to guide real-world conservation strategies.

So what are the main impact areas of this endeavor?

With this data, we can create maps that show gun-shot data, and that can be sketched to elephant habitats. It helps law-enforcement people and in devising better anti-poaching efforts. It creates more opportunities for protection of elephant. We can map elephant corridors and create predictions of suitable habitats.

What’s the music context, if any?

Elephants communicate a lot with sounds. They have a sharp sense of smell and sound. We have started mapping data for prediction of age and sex of elephants. Elephants can also recognize the sound of each other. They use low pitch, high pitch and modulation of sounds for various communication goals.

What’s your advice to the Youth?

Do not use ivory. Do not use tropical hardwood. Do not live a lifestyle that harms any innocent creature. Live sustainably. Shop responsibly. Don’t support illegal businesses – even a small pendant can do a lot of harm.

By Madhuram Khatri