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How do elephants communicate? Sight, sound, scent, touch and vibration…
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Mother and daughter walking in step (or almost) to an ancient rhythm. #elephants #amboselielephants #motherdaughter #elephantvoices

We often compare baby elephants to big wind-up toys. Their sometimes uncoordinated, unpredictable, sudden, jerky, almost mechanical movements are at once awkward and endearing, Watching them stumble, sway, and charge around is pure joy. 🐘

Conor is following Jolie of the JB family who is coming into estrus. He follows her with a Musth-Walk, Trunk-Dragging as he goes. The behavior illustrated in this video is Trunk-Dragging: An elephant dragging the distal and outer portion of a curled trunk on the ground making a rasping sound; often leaves a continuous or intermittent snake-like mark on the ground. Musth males, particularly, may drag their trunks along the ground for long distances (3 kilometers has been observed) when Walking or Tracking another elephant; musth males and elephants of both sexes may drag their trunks on the ground as a threat at very close range. Elephant ID: @amboseli_trust This short video from Amboseli, Kenya was filmed in 2020 and is part of The Elephant Ethogram: A Library of African Elephant Behavior. Visit the link in our bio to learn more.

An elephant face. Their skin is thick, weathered, warm and dry to the touch - every crease and deep-set wrinkle like cracked earth waiting for rain. Yet within those folds lies an elephant’s secret to moisturising - each fissure capturing and holding water. Their amber eyes are watchful, full of quiet understanding, hidden beneath long lashes. Tusks, an elephant’s incisors, come in all shapes and sizes - worn smooth, chipped by use. Yet if you look closely, within each lies the same fine herringbone zig-zag grain, or Schreger lines of African elephant ivory: a pattern shared across individuals, a hidden thread that marks a species. And the trunk - creased, endlessly expressive - moves with a language all its own. It breathes, drinks, touches, greets, probes, and plays. Even in stillness, it seems alive with thought. Last, but not least, their ears - soft, smooth almost delicate to the touch, veined like old leaves - are constantly in motion. They move slowly, rapidly, rhythmically - subtle, quiet or demonstrative, noisy gestures: flapping, waving, folding. Along their edges, nicks and notches and holes tell a story and reveal identities.

gf0070 and her family are moving away. gf0070 is still alert she stops Freezing with Ears-Stiff, Chin-Up, J-Trunk and then continues. She raises her trunk in a Periscope-Trunk. This is followed by the same from her daughter. Then a bit further on they all Freeze, gf0070 with Chin-Up, Head-Swinging. The behavior illustrated in this video is Freezing: A sudden cessation of all movement by an individual or group of individuals, holding stock-still, apparently Listening or perhaps feeling distant vibrations. Individuals may begin very slow moving of the head from one side to another - Head-Swinging - presumably to localise sound. When concerned about predators elephants may hold motionless, other than Head-Swinging, for a period of 5-60 seconds, when they are presumably using all of their senses to locate the source of disturbance. Freezing is most often initiated by an older member of the group. Others follow her/his lead, even if she or he might be bringing up the rear of the group. This short video from @gorongosapark, Mozambique is part of The Elephant Ethogram: A Library of African Elephant Behavior. Visit the link in our bio to learn more. #theelephantethogram #elephantvoices #conservation #elephants

Yesterday was Joyce’s birthday, and she received a copy of ‘Walk the Earth’, the latest book by renowned wildlife photographer @federico_veronesi, as a gift from her daughter, @selengei. This remarkable book - 'a journey into the world of African Elephants in search of the last great tuskers' - is both a visual masterpiece and a heartfelt tribute to these extraordinary beings. Within its pages, we recognize familiar faces from Amboseli: Tim, Craig, Tolstoy, Esau, Pascal, Theodora, Michael, Vronsky - as well as many well-known elephants from Tsavo and beyond. Federico’s powerful imagery has inspired Joyce’s paintings and supported our efforts to raise awareness against the trophy hunting of the Amboseli–West Kilimanjaro elephant population. ‘Walk the Earth’ is available through Federico Veronesi’s official website and we highly recommend getting yourself a copy (link in our bio). Thank you, @federico_veronesi for everything you have done and continue to do for elephants. #WalkTheEarth #FedericoVeronesi

The beautiful matriarch, Iria inspects one of our camera traps in @gorongosapark.🐘

‘Waiting for Grace’ The behavior illustrated in this photograph is Waiting: Standing idly, lingering, loitering until other elephants either catch up or are alerted to the signallers attempt to initiate movement; contextually this posture is obvious as the Waiting individual is attentive (engaging in behaviors such as J-Trunk, Eye-Blinking, Ears-Stiff), often glancing back over her shoulder (Look-Back), and/or checking the others' activity by sniffing, listening and looking, and indicating her impatience by taking a few desultory steps and pausing again - Walk-Wait. This behaviour occurs in a number of different contexts. In a Calf Reassurance & Protection context, mothers and allomothers are often seen Waiting for infants and calves; in a Courtship context, consorting musth male and estrous female are observed to Wait for one another in order to maintain a certain proximity, to prevent other males from mating. In a Movement Space & Leadership context, elephants of all age/sex groups Wait for one another to keep the family or group together. This behavioral constellation includes the following behaviors: Displacement-Feeding, Displacement-Grooming, Ears-Stiff, Eye-Blinking, Foot-Lifting, Foot-Swinging, J-Trunk, Look-Back, Walk-Wait and occurs in the following context(s): Ambivalent, Attentive, Birth, Calf Reassurance & Protection, Courtship, Movement, Space & Leadership Visit The Elephant Ethogram: A Library of African Elephant Behavior via the link in our bio to learn more.

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