elephant listening project
October 8, 2006 7:55 PM Subscribe
The Elephant Listening Project "Elephants make powerful infrasonic calls which travel long distances, allowing researchers to identify the presence of elephants over large areas without visual sightings."
This post was deleted for the following reason: is this day over yet? previous
Everyone should check the elephant tag on elephant day. But the infrasonic stuff is very cool.
posted by mediareport at 8:58 PM on October 8, 2006
posted by mediareport at 8:58 PM on October 8, 2006
So since this thread is bound to be deleted:
As part of the bird and butterfly diversity study I was doing in the Western Ghats in India, we got to wander around the national parks with unprecedented access. Normally, only the VIPs and the forest rangers are allowed into the core areas, but because our project was funded by the Forest Department itself, they let us go wherever we could.
So one day we were going in one of the lesser used tracks in a jeep, and it was getting late, and we were still in the middle of the forest and had to return to the field station before nightfall, but just as we took a bend, there was this lone female elephant blocking the path. It was not possible to go any other way, and we didn't want to risk antagonizing the elephant because lone females are really the most temperamental and dangerous. So we waited. And waited. BUt the elephant was busy chewing on a small tree that she'd pulled down and was clearly not going anywhere. After around half an hour we were all getting annoyed, and to lighten the mood in the jeep, I told my colleagues about the infrasonic vibrations that elephants use to communicate. They heard me out, and then I said that if they wanted me to, I would communicate to the elephant using these infrasonic rumbles and ask it to move away from the path. They agreed. So I concentrated and did nothing. They asked what happened, why didn't I make any sound. I said I told it to move....and since it was infrasonic, they were unable to hear me.
It did lighten the mood, but what was truly unbelievable was, a minute after the above exchange the elephant moved away from the path!!!
posted by dhruva at 9:10 PM on October 8, 2006
As part of the bird and butterfly diversity study I was doing in the Western Ghats in India, we got to wander around the national parks with unprecedented access. Normally, only the VIPs and the forest rangers are allowed into the core areas, but because our project was funded by the Forest Department itself, they let us go wherever we could.
So one day we were going in one of the lesser used tracks in a jeep, and it was getting late, and we were still in the middle of the forest and had to return to the field station before nightfall, but just as we took a bend, there was this lone female elephant blocking the path. It was not possible to go any other way, and we didn't want to risk antagonizing the elephant because lone females are really the most temperamental and dangerous. So we waited. And waited. BUt the elephant was busy chewing on a small tree that she'd pulled down and was clearly not going anywhere. After around half an hour we were all getting annoyed, and to lighten the mood in the jeep, I told my colleagues about the infrasonic vibrations that elephants use to communicate. They heard me out, and then I said that if they wanted me to, I would communicate to the elephant using these infrasonic rumbles and ask it to move away from the path. They agreed. So I concentrated and did nothing. They asked what happened, why didn't I make any sound. I said I told it to move....and since it was infrasonic, they were unable to hear me.
It did lighten the mood, but what was truly unbelievable was, a minute after the above exchange the elephant moved away from the path!!!
posted by dhruva at 9:10 PM on October 8, 2006
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posted by mediareport at 8:19 PM on October 8, 2006