Elephant Voices

Category: 1. General News, Thank You! | Date: Dec 23 2008 | By: elephantvoices

We’re getting very close to Christmas and the end of the year, and want to use this opportunity to send warm wishes and a heart felt thank you to all of you around the world who support elephants and our work financially or in other ways. Our best wishes and thanks also go to WD staff, and to all the other WD bloggers who work so hard to protect the many species in need - keep up the good work!

We had a good time during our hectic lecture and fundraising trip in California in November - and we are extremely grateful for all the warm hospitality, good friendship and generosity we experienced during our two week visit. The global financial crisis does not create the best atmosphere in which to raise funds, but the new American President (elect) and a newborn Obama in Amboseli keep us optimistic!

Vegetarian cooking party at our friend Coco’s house in Sausalito 8 November, a lively event to promote the interests of elephants and the work of ElephantVoices. (Photo: PartiesThatCook)


For a second year in a row we enjoyed the warm hospitality of Patty and Doug (and their 6 dogs) during a vegan reception at their home in Pacific Palisades, 16 November. (Photo: Tim Stahl)

It’s been a very busy year, as usual, which you can read more about in our End Year letter. In 2009 we intend to spend about half of our time on our new Sri Lankan project, a quarter on our Amboseli work and the remainder on advocacy. Petter and/or I will be in the field in Kenya in January, and part of February and March, and in Sri Lanka in June and again in September. Manori Gunawardena will be in Minneriya-Kaudulla throughout the year and Blake Murray will be helping us to collect and analyze data in Amboseli. Public awareness and education are elements that runs through all of our work, so you will continue to hear from us whether we are in the field or not.

As advancements in science contribute to our growing understanding of elephants we continue to put substantial time and effort into influencing welfare policy so that elephant interests are met. The elephant Watoto (Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle) in the photo is blurred due to stereotypical swaying - a behavior that expresses the massive frustration caused by confinement.  (Photo: Alyne Fortgang)

During 2009 we look forward to being with our long-term elephant friends in Amboseli, Kenya, and with our new acquaintences in Minneriya-Kaudulla, Sri Lanka. And, of course, to working with our colleagues in Amboseli and with Manori and our many new colleagues in Sri Lanka.  The survival of wild elephants depends on finding a balance between the needs of people and elephants - a task that requires the collaborative work of people all over the world.

In order to find ways for people and elephants to co-exist in Minneriya-Kaudulla we must start by defining the basic needs of an elephant population that seems to number over 1,000 individuals rather than the previous estimate of 450 - we have our work for 2009 cut out for us!

We wish you all a festive holiday season and a peaceful 2009 for all creatures!

Warm Greetings, Joyce and Petter

Tags: amboseli, captivity, elephant communication, elephants, elephantvoices, kaudulla, minneriya, mkep, sri lanka

One response so far

Category: 1. General News, Thank You! | Date: Dec 19 2008 | By: elephantvoices

Thank you Anna M., Matt G., Janet G. Bill F. and Michelle P. - your donations and interest in elephants and our work is very much appreciated! We hope to “see you around” also in 2009, which we think will be an exciting year for ElephantVoices. Be assured that your donations will be used in a good way for elephants. You will find a greeting and a few lines about our plans for 2009 here on WD shortly - we’re packing for Amboseli!

Tags: africa, behavior, behaviour, elephant, elephants, elephantvoices, kenya

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Category: 1. General News, 6. Behavior, 8. Education, Elephant Video | Date: Dec 17 2008 | By: elephantvoices

Hi all,

One of our readers, Amy Mayers, sent this to us: A Public Service Announcement put out by the US Government that uses lessons from elephant behavior (a paper on which I was an author from 2000) to argue for bettering fathering. Well, the elephants in the clip are from Amboseli (some of my all time favorites, like Dionysus), not from South Africa, and while the behavior it describes is not actually what we see in the video, and it mostly gets the sexes of the elephants wrong, the message is a good one and true for both elephants and people. The youth of both species require good adult role models in their lives. Growing up without them spells trouble.

Joyce

Tags: amboseli, education, Elephant Video, elephants, elephantvoices, role models

One response so far

Category: 1. General News, 4. Welfare News, Elephant Sounds, Events | Date: Dec 07 2008 | By: elephantvoices

Some of you have seen the responses (online or in person) of Ruby, Maggie, Mara and Lulu to some elephant sounds that I played to them when Petter and I visited Ark2000 on 15 November for a joint fundraiser for PAWS and ElephantVoices. Their responses were so strong that some people have been concerned that the sounds were upsetting to the girls. I want to take a moment here to address that concern.

Over the years we have been approached a few times by people who have wanted to use some of the calls in our collection as enrichment for elephants in zoos. I have been reluctant to allow our recordings for this purpose because I have felt that people who didn’t understand the calls or the responses of the elephants to them could misuse them. I also feel that elephants are smart enough to figure out pretty quickly that the sounds are just a ploy – that there aren’t any real elephant out there to be companions - and then playing them is just unkind.

The situation at PAWS was different because I was there, able to monitor the elephants, along with Pat, Ed, and all the others who work with these individuals and know their behavior and responses so well. Also, having watched these elephants in the past, I knew I was dealing with individuals who were relaxed and well integrated and, in particular, were elephants who had one another’s companionship and support to rely on.

Petter and I played several sounds to the PAWS elephants. The first was a musth rumble (made only by sexually active males), followed by a mating pandemonium (the excitement that follows a mating), and then a sequence in which a calf screamed (because a lion jumped on it) which was immediately followed by the angry sounds of mother elephants threatening the lion and calling in members of their family for support.

So how did Ruby, Maggie, Mara and Lulu respond to these sounds?

When the musth rumble was played:
Maggie and Mara were near fence and were very relaxed until the sound is played. They lifted their heads, Mara folded her ears (a threat) and they first ran away (they were taken by surprise by a sound nearby that they didn’t expect) and then Mara turned toward the speaker. She whirled and trumpeted with excitement (Not with fear) and they all ran together, spun around, trumpeted and rumbled (throaty and modulated sound – typical excited rumble) and then some of the elephants urinated. This is typical of a high level excited response of females to the sound of a musth rumble in the wild. The manner in which they spun around together showed how bonded they are.

When the mating pandemonium was played:
The four elephants were some distance off. They listened to the sounds of many elephants and appeared not sure what to do. They started to walk away, then stopped. Ruby was in the front and was contemplating what to do. She turned her head from one side to the other trying to localize/ understand the source of the sound. She appeared unsure of what to do.

When the scream and antipredator rumbles were played:
As soon as the calf screamed, Ruby paid attention. As the mother elephants began their loud roaring rumbles, Ruby came forward and then charged uphill toward the sound and stood tall (aggressive) near the fence. Then she ran back to the other elephants and backed into them. They trumpeted and bunch in a defensive formation. Ruby charged uphill again and gave a trumpet blast – as might be given toward a predator. All the elephants moved away in a bunched formation. They held their heads high with their trunks curled under in an apprehensive posture.

The elephants heard a calf in danger and the sounds of other elephants threatening a predator and calling for help. They responded just as they would in the wild – with alarm and then with anger. Ruby showed real leadership - she acted like a mother and a matriarch in the situation and came to the defence of the group – exactly the kind of response that one would expect to see in the wild.

While it may be rare for captive elephants to react so strongly to a stimulus, the responses were very typical of wild elephants and we were able to observe a range of reactions from high-level social excitement to fierce defence. In the wild when we do playback experiments we hope for reactions like this. I have many videos of elephants running from sounds, bunching, charging and some in which they do not respond with more than listening behavior. Playbacks are a tool for learning what these sounds mean.

The elephants’ responses showed just what a strong leader Ruby (from LA Zoo) has becomes and how tight the bonds are between the four elephants. PAWS can be extremely proud of the work they have done to facilitate the development of this family unit.

Trumpets, Joyce

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Category: 1. General News, 4. Welfare News, Elephants in captivity | Date: Dec 05 2008 | By: elephantvoices

In our previous post we wrote about our involvement in trying to convince the LA City Council members to close down the elephant exhibit at the LA Zoo and to shelve plans for building a new one. The proposed exhibit, 3.8 acres for the elephants including a barn with 10 stalls, would be far from satisfactory space for Billy and the proposed 6-10 other Asian elephants they plan to put in there.

The Council met again on 3rd December, and once again has postponed it’s final decision, while Billy keeps bobbing his head in boredom and frustration. The Zoo has been given a chance to source private funds, before a final decision is taken, but with the focus now on finances rather than elephant welfare, we think that the Council is missing the point.

The heated discussions in LA City Council chambers and Billy’s destiny are starting to attract international attention - expressed in this BBC coverage.

The LA Times is following the situation closely, as you can read here. Joyce spoke at length to Council members during our time in LA from 17 to 20 November, and also in an interview with the LA Times. That interview was followed up in another LA Times article 1st December.

We are not very happy that so much focus has been placed on the financial issue - we have no particular opinion about how the city of LA uses it’s money. With such focus it could be argued, in better times, that Billy’s welfare isn’t important. We are certain that the pro-elephant exhibit people will be able to raise enough private funding to continue building if the LA City Council allows them, but if that closes the case leaving Billy still bobbing behind bars that would be very sad.

We hope that strong scientific arguments AND common sense will prevail in the end. This is not about kind keepers versus extreme activists - but about accepting the reality that conditions in urban zoos do not allow a vigorous, social and intelligent animal like the elephant to live a decent life.

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