ElephantVoices is working on a major initiative to document the repertoire of African savannah elephant behavior (Loxodonta africana). The Elephant Ethogram will represent a unique and comprehensive source of information about elephant behaviour and communication, based on ElephantVoices' decades of behavioural study, our multimedia photographic and acoustic collections, as well as footage collected during the filming of documentaries from the Maasai Mara, Kenya, and Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. The Elephant Ethogram will describe and preserve the gestural and acoustic "language" and behaviour of a species whose way of life, and very existence, is threatened by human greed and expansion.

The first version of The Elephant Ethogram will be made available on ElephantVoices.org in late 2020.
Purpose & Objectives
The Elephant Ethogram intends to document in unique, user-friendly and fully searchable databases, the complex and diverse communication and behavior of African elephants for scientists and others to study, compare and share. As a repository of exemplars of elephant behaviour, The Elephant Ethogram aims to:
- preserve the gestural and acoustic repertoire, or "language," of African savannah elephants;
- be a valuable resource and reference for scientific study;
- be a repository of rare elephant behaviors and those evolving through social learning in response to rapidly increasing anthropogenic threats;