Scientists Unravel Secret World Of Elephant Communication

South African Elephants (enlarge)
Source: Stanford University
Date: 2005-05-26
Over the next five years, Hart, Aranson and O'Connell-Rodwell conducted experiments with captive elephants in the United States, Zimbabwe and India. Using geophones buried in the soil, the scientists were able to confirm that low-frequency rumbles and mock charges do, indeed, generate measurable seismic waves that travel along the surface of the ground. In 1999, the UC-Davis team developed a mathematical model predicting that low-frequency vibrations have the potential of traveling up to 20 miles in the ground--potentially three times farther than airborne calls. more