The behavior of elusive African forest elephants can be a challenge to study. Trying to understand the causes of that behavior, or “get inside their heads” as it were, can be even more difficult. We may be able to observe the behavior, but how do the elephants understand their own…

ELP researchers have to be ready for anything. Exploring the soundscapes of African elephants often requires long hours of data-crunching and analysis in the Lab, but can also include exciting forays into the field. In 2018, for example, ELP research analyst Bobbi Estabrook traveled to eastern Senegal to investigate the…

Like any large family, an elephant herd can get quite noisy. As social creatures, elephants use calls, rumbles, and roars to communicate with each other. Since elephant herds can cross great distances, it is important for them to be able to hear and understand each other’s calls if they get…

If you spot an elephant swaggering through the bai, or forest clearing, with strange stains on its swollen temples and a mood suggesting a killer headache, watch out — you might have found a male in musth. Musth, from the Urdu word mast meaning “intoxication” or “madness”¹, is a period…

When you think about an animal’s struggle for survival in the wild, “play” might not seem like an important or worthwhile activity. Yet, play appears to be a normal activity for many animals, and play behaviors have been consistently observed in a range of animals of all ages, from rats¹…