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Cited by 68Animal Vocal Communication and BehaviorMarine animal studies overviewWildlife Ecology and Conservation

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Wild African elephants (Loxodonta africana) discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecific seismic alarm calls

O’Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin E., Wood, Jason D., Kinzley, Colleen, Rodwell, Timothy C., Poole, Joyce H., Puria, Sunil·2007·The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
DOI 10.1121/1.2747161
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Abstract

The ability to discriminate between call types and callers as well as more subtle information about the importance of a call has been documented in a range of species. This type of discrimination is also important in the vibrotactile environment for species that communicate via vibrations. It has recently been shown that African elephants (Loxodonta africana) can detect seismic cues, but it is not known whether they discriminate seismic information from noise. In a series of experiments, familiar and unfamiliar alarm calls were transmitted seismically to wild African elephant family groups. Elephants respond significantly to the alarm calls of familiar herds (p=0.004) but not to the unfamiliar calls and two different controls, thus demonstrating the ability of elephants to discriminate subtle differences between seismic calls given in the same context. If elephants use the seismic environment to detect and discriminate between conspecific calls, based on the familiarity of the caller or some other physical property, they may be using the ground as a very sophisticated sounding board.

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  • African savanna elephants can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals from vocalizations and seismic alarm calls.

    “African savanna elephants can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals from both vocalizations (McComb et al., 2000), as well as seismic alarm calls (O'Connell-Rodwell et al., 2007).”

    From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as O'Connell-Rodwell et al., 2007

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Metadata

Authors
O’Connell-Rodwell, C. E., Wood, J. D., Kinzley, C., Rodwell, T. C., Poole, J. H., & Puria, S.
Affiliations
  • Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, , Stanford, California 94305-5739
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Oakland Zoo , Oakland, California 94605
  • University of California San Diego (US)
  • Amboseli Research Project , Buskhellinga 3, 3236 Sandefjord, Norway
  • Stanford University (US)
ORCID
Venue
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Publisher
Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Published
2007-08-01
Volume
122
Issue
2
Pages
823-830
ISSN
  • 0001-4966 (ISSN-L)
  • 1520-8524
DOI
10.1121/1.2747161
OpenAlex
W2083878594
Cited by
68
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
FWCI
1.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis
  • University of California Davis School of Medicine
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Keywords
Loxodonta africana, seismic communication, vibrotactile communication, call discrimination, familiarity, animal communication
MeSH terms
Acoustics, Animals, Animals, Wild, Calibration, Disasters, Elephants, Fear, Namibia, Social Behavior, Vocalization, Animal

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