Male elephants use deep rumbles to signal when it is time to go

Researchers found that the rumbles are initiated by the most socially integrated, and often the most dominant, males in close-knit social groups.

Nina Massey
1 hour ago

Male elephants signal that it is time to move on by letting out a “sophisticated” deep growl, new research suggests.

After a while drinking at the waterhole, a senior bull elephant will lift his head and turn away, and with ears flapping gently let out a resonant rumble that would sound much like any of his other noises to humans.

But this specific sound sends a very clear message to the other bull elephants – it is time to go.

We were astonished to find that male elephants, typically considered to have loose social ties, engage in such sophisticated vocal coordination to trigger action

Dr Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell

One by one, the others respond, their voices overlapping in rumbles, and they move on to the next stop.

For the first time, scientists from Stanford University and other institutions have documented male elephants using the “let’s go” rumbles to signal the start of group departures from the Mushara waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stanford-university-b2583968.html