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How do elephants communicate? Sight, sound, scent, touch and vibration…
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Learn how to sex and identify African elephants
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Elephant needing your help? Find sound arguments in "Statements & Testimonies"

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An African sunrise + elephants = the perfect combination. Amboseli is arguably one of the best places in Africa to photograph these magnificent creatures. On this particular morning, we set out before dawn and came across a family of elephants making their way toward the swamp. As the sun rose over the horizon, a young male, gently feeding, walked directly beneath the rising sun - and time held still for a fleeting moment. • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. 🐘 • #ElephantVoices #Elephants #AfricanElephants #WildlifePhotography #NaturePhotography #SafariPhotography #SunriseSilhouette

Walli is feeding on Faidherbia drepanolobium while her two calves, a newborn female and a 5 year old male are trying to Double-Suckle. Unusually, Walli has not weaned her older male calf and he appears to be jealous of his younger sister. Walli is standing so as to block the 5 year old from access to her breast (Reject-Suckle) and then uses her body (Body-Nudge) and her hind foot to try to stop him (Kick-Back). Finally she tries backing up. The behavior illustrated in this video is Reject-Suckle: An adult female ignoring or rejecting the Solicit-Food or Solicit-Suckling advances of her vocally or physically Begging calf, by walking away or by physically locking a calf out of the breast or away from a branch by using variety of behaviors to repel her advances such as Foreleg-Block, Kick-Back or Body-Nudge or Head-Swipe. • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephantbehaviour #knowyourelephants #elephant

#ThrowbackThursday - We’ve taken tens of thousands of photographs over the years, but this one, of Erin and Ed, remains a firm favourite. It captures a moment we find ourselves returning to time and time again. In the photograph, Erin (daughter of famous matriarch Echo) is vocalising shortly after mating with the musth male, Ed. At the time, she was a mature female who understood how to respond to a musth male and the behavioural cues expected in such encounters. Her front leg lifts slightly as she leans against him, temporal gland secretion streaming down the sides of her face (and up because she has vigorously shaken her head). Ed stands strong and composed beside her. There is an intimacy and emotion in their posture that speaks volumes. Elephant ID: @amboseli_trust #throwback #amboselielephants #elephantvoices #elephants #amboseli #kenya

Two calves belonging to the C family (gf0080's 2013 calf and a one year old male) are playing. The male Reach-Over the smaller female; she ducks out of the way and a 5-6 year old allomother swings her head toward them as if to break up the antics. The behavior illustrated in this video is Head-Swipe: A sharp and sudden swinging or tossing of the head and tusks down, up and sideways, to threaten or hit an elephant by its side who is either too close or doing something that displeases the elephant. Often seen in competition over resources such as an older calf Begging for food or attempting Food-Stealing from its mother, or other, or at a salt lick or small water hole. (Previously referred to Head-Swinging a term now used for a different behavior. • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephantbehaviour #knowyourelephants #elephant

We use still and video cameras to document individual elephants and their behavior. In Gorongosa images taken formed the basis for individual identification. Because the Gorongosa elephants were so wary of people, we quickly photographed everyone in a group and identified many of them later from the images. We then added the individuals to the sightings record that we had taken in the field on our smartphone app - the Gorongosa EleApp. So that we could keep our eyes on the elephants, we often took field notes on our SmartPhone and later added relevant information to the Gorongosa Who’s Who amd Whereabouts Database. Pictured here is One Tusk and one of her tuskless daughters and they rapidly crossed the road in front of us. We also used both photographic still images and video to document specific behaviors as part of our long-term documentation of the behavioral repertoire of African elephants. The result of this work is to a large extent included in ElephantVoices' The Elephant Ethogram: A Library of African Savanna Elephant Behavior, which you can access via the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephant #elephantsfacts

Three boys are having a game of gentle Sparring. The older male climbs onto a termite mound and Tusks-Ground as he is watched by a younger male. The older male challenges him to Spar but the younger male Backs-Away down the termite mound. The larger male then lowers himself and Lies-Down on his side while the younger two Spar. The male who had Backed-Away sees the larger male down and goes to engage with him, climbing back up the mound, followed by his play partner. The larger male stands up on a lower level than the younger two. They consider one another for a while and then the older male Tusks-Ground. He lifts a clod of dirt with his tusks, brandishing it at the younger males as he crawls back up the mound. They Retreat-From and he collapses down on his belly and Head-Waggles. He shuffles around a bit on his

No individual or individual personality has more impact on family structure and fortunes than the matriarch, or female leader, of an elephant family. Matriarchs are generally the oldest and largest adult female member of a family. In some cases it is very obvious who the leader of a family is - she is the individual to whom others orient, whose sudden change in activity they note, and whose leadership they turn to in a moment of crisis. In other families, the matriarch's leadership is less clear. The reasons for these differences have to do with personality, genetic relationships and history. Matriarchs express their rank in both competitive and cooperative situations. Matriarchs have been traditionally thought of as rather autocratic, making most decisions and leading a rather docile group of

A couple of families have met and are bathing in a pool. As the elephants begin to depart the female on the left Ear-Folds and Advances-Toward a female from another family who Retreats-From and disappears from view. We see the aggressor pause and Orient-Away and then Orient-Toward and stand with Chin-Out in an aggressive posture as if she is receiving a counter threat. She continues Advancing-Toward and then suddenly turns and Runs-Away, splashing into the water as a third, larger female Charges into view, Forward-Trunk-Swings and Trumpet-Blasts at her in threat. This larger female is likely the matriarch, mother or close ally of the second female. The female who was chased back into the waters waits with J-Trunk and then turns and follows the others out of the water. The behavior illustrated in this video is Trumpet-Blast: A powerful, relatively long and seemingly sustained, Trumpet lasting 1-1.5 seconds in duration produced when an elephant or group of elephants confronts a predator, or other perceived threat. An individual may Advance-Toward or Charge while Trumpeting. Referred to as a Trumpet-Blast these calls are intended to intimidate, and, typically, Charges that are associated with them end abruptly. Yet, in our experience, it is wise not to assume that a Trumpeting and Charging elephant will not make good her threat. Cavorting elephants Charging at or Running-After other species during Social Play (such as rabbits, hyenas, wildebeests, monkeys, or the human observer) typically Trumpet-Blast, too. While such Trumpets produced in the two contexts are similar, those produced when confronting a serious threat are more powerful and it is certainly possible to hear a difference between the two contexts. We previously called those produced during play Mock-Charge-Play-Trumpets (Poole, 2011). • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephantbehaviour #knowyourelephants #elephant

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