Zookeepers have recorded a remarkable mix of sounds produced by reuniting Zoos Victoria elephants. The recording not only demonstrates the breadth of elephant’s sonic capacity, but includes sounds the keepers say they have never heard elephants make before over decades of care.
Many zoos have transformed themselves from places where animals were driven mad in tiny cages for human amusement to centers of conservation and sometimes research. That means giving animals a near-wild experience, including what keepers call enrichment, which frequently requires space zoos don’t have.
Aware their inner-Melbourne zoo could never offer elephants the room they need to roam, Zoos Victoria acquired a large parcel of land on the edge of the city next to their existing Werribee Zoo, and set about creating an elephant paradise. The elephants were recently transferred there, but the process meant an unusually long separation between the bull, Luk Chai, and the rest of the herd.
Consequently, when the whole family came together, they had the double excitement of not having seen each other for a long time, and new space in which to roam.
Keeper Jess Macdonald told IFLScience she didn’t know which of these was behind the unusual sounds, but the elephants became talkative on an unprecedented scale.
In the wild, elephants form matriarchal herds of females and young. Some males roam independently, while others form smaller “bachelor herds”. Naturally the males visit the matriarchal herds when it’s time to mate, but they also come together frequently to socialize.
Zookeepers try to replicate this dynamic. Once Zoos Victoria acquired Luk Chai to establish a breeding program for the endangered species they mostly kept him in a separate enclosure, but arranged frequent visits where he could interact with the females.
In 2022-23 three calves were born from these liaisons, and Luk Chai has continued to spend time with the herd so they can interact with their father.
During the move, however, MacDonald explained the keepers didn’t want to complicate the new experience, so Luk Chai was kept apart from the herd for several weeks prior to this encounter. “The variety of the vocalisations were truly remarkable. The elephants have different frequencies and pitches and it’s quite a lot to hear when all happening at once, but it’s beautiful because they are communicating together as a herd,” said keeper Christie Trerice in an emailed statement.
Sadly, an Elephant-to-English translation device has not been invented, so we don’t know exactly what these sounds were meant to communicate. “This could indicate their excitement, surprise, be a way of greeting one another, and also a way of telling Luk Chai to move away. So, it is a mix of communication,” Trerice said.
MacDonald assured IFLScience “move away” didn’t mean Luk Chai was unwelcome. “We see females approaching the male, not just the other way, and rubbing their trunks over him.” Nevertheless, some of the elephants may have been nervous about the calves getting trampled in the excitement and sending a warning to avoid that. “The mums very always aware of where their calves are,” MacDonald noted.
“It was also beautiful to see the calves approach Luk Chai as they haven’t spent too much time together. He was so gentle with them, and it was great to see them experience that social time with their father,” Trerice said.
Whether the elephants are aware of the family relationship is hard to know, MacDonald said. With Luk Chai the only adult male elephant for hundreds of miles the calves have not had any other father figures, and whether they would have behaved differently to an unrelated male is uncertain. However, MacDonald thinks that male elephants may be able to recognize their children based on the timing of when the females stopped going into estrus, something males are very aware of.
Until his death from elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus in 2023, the zoo also had an adolescent male Man Jai unrelated to Luk Chai. As he grew up Man Jai and Luk Chai were given some boys’ time together separate from the herd, as interaction with an older male is an essential part of a young bull’s development.
Zoo staff noted that elephant sounds were used to make the roars of the larger dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. However, the collected sounds reveal the mammal’s versatility in pitch not generally attributed to the ancient giants.
Source Link: Hear An Elephant Reunion Spark Sounds Even Keepers Had Not Heard Before