ELEPHANT CALL TYPES
Asian elephants have been found to produce four basic types of vocalisations, which are:
1. Rumble: A rumble represents a long, low-frequency call that elephants often use for communication within and among herds. Rumbles can lie in the frequency range of 10–170 Hz. With the human hearing range being between 20-20,000 Hz, these calls have some components which may not be audible to the human ear.
2. Roar: Roars are long, noisy and loud, high-frequency vocalisations. These can occur in a number of contexts such as aggression, distress or play.
3: Trumpet: Trumpets were found to occur largely in the context of disturbance by humans or other wild animals. These are loud, conspicuous high-frequency vocalisations.
4. Chirp: Chirps are generally short, noisy high-frequency calls. Elephants in a state of confusion or alarm often create these vocalisations.
A call may either occur in an isolated manner, or in combination with other call types. In addition to these vocalisations, elephants may sometimes also produce non-vocal sounds such as blowing air through the trunk. Through field data collection and subsequent analysis, we are creating a database of these vocalisations along with their behavioural context, for captive and wild Asian elephants in the Northeastern region of India.
Various Vocalisations
The following tracks are vocalisations made by wild and captive elephants, recorded in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, Assam, India.
1. Rumble:
Track 1
The call was made by a 28 year old captive female elephant named Lakhimi while she was foraging.
Track 2
A 47 year old captive female elephant named Padmini made this call while she was being bathed.
2. Roar:
Track 1
A juvenile elephant made the call when he/she was pushed away by an adult female while they were both feeding in water.
Track 2
The call was made by an unidentified member of a group of elephants with three adult females and a juvenile. The call was used to communicate with another elephant/group of elephants further inside the forest.
Track 3
A sub adult elephant made the vocalisation while standing on the safari track, in response to vocalisations of distress made by other elephants inside the forest. Warning calls were made by sambar deer, indicating the potential presence of a tiger. This could be the reason why the elephants were vocalising in distress.
3. Trumpet:
Track 1
An adult female vocalised after bathing herself with dust, while standing on the safari track with a group of elephants.
Track 2
A juvenile elephant stopped while feeding in water next to a sub adult tusker, and he/she then vocalised. After vocalising, he/she started running towards the rest of the elephants of his/her group.
Track 3
An adult female was disturbed by humans. She vocalised and then moved back towards the forest.
4. Chirp:
Track 1
The vocalisation was made by an adult female when she was disturbed by a vehicle.
Track 2
The vocalisations were recorded while observing a group of elephants foraging. The group included two adult females, one sub adult female and one calf. During the vocalisation, one of the adult females, the calf and the sub adult female stood very still together in one position. After that, they went back to foraging.
Track 3
An adult female made this vocalisation when she was disturbed by a rhino. She flapped her ears throughout the vocalisation.
Track 4
The vocalisations were recorded while observing a group of elephants foraging. The group included two adult females, one sub adult female and one calf. During the vocalisation, one of the adult females, the calf and the sub adult female stood very still together in one position. After that, they went back to foraging.
5. Roar - Rumble Combination:
Track 1
The vocalisation was made by an unidentified individual from a group of three adult females when they were disturbed by a vehicle.
Track 2
The vocalisation was made by an adult female while running towards her herd. She was separated from her herd and thus vocalised in distress.
6. Trumpet - Chirp Combination:
Track 1
The adult female was disturbed by a rhino. She flapped her ears throughout the vocalisation.
7. Non-vocal Sounds:
Track 1
This sound was recorded while a group of elephants were foraging, and it resulted due to an elephant blowing air through his/her trunk, generating a large noise.