Long-distance communication of acoustic cues to social identity in African elephants

McComb, Karen; Reby, David; Baker, Lucy; Moss, Cynthia J.; Sayialel, Soila

doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.2047

Cited by 271 publications

(212 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Their vocal communication is characterized by a rich repertoire of distinct sounds, spanning a fundamental frequency range from ten to several hundred hertz (Payne et al, 1986;Poole et al, 1988;Langbauer, 2000;Leong et al, 2003;McComb et al, 2003;Garstang, 2004;Soltis et al, 2005;Stoeger-Horwath et al, 2007). The elephant larynx is the largest mammalian sound generation system so far investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex vibratory patterns in an elephant larynx

Švec

Lohscheller

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYElephants' low-frequency vocalizations are produced by flow-induced self-sustaining oscillations of laryngeal tissue. To date, little is known in detail about the vibratory phenomena in the elephant larynx. Here, we provide a first descriptive report of the complex oscillatory features found in the excised larynx of a 25year old female African elephant (Loxodonta africana), the largest animal sound generator ever studied experimentally. Sound production was documented with high-speed video, acoustic measurements, air flow and sound pressure level recordings. The anatomy of the larynx was studied with computed tomography (CT) and dissections. Elephant CT vocal anatomy data were further compared with the anatomy of an adult human male. We observed numerous unusual phenomena, not typically reported in human vocal fold vibrations. Phase delays along both the inferior-superior and anterior-posterior (A-P) dimension were commonly observed, as well as transverse travelling wave patterns along the A-P dimension, previously not documented in the literature. Acoustic energy was mainly created during the instant of glottal opening. The vestibular folds, when adducted, participated in tissue vibration, effectively increasing the generated sound pressure level by 12dB. The complexity of the observed phenomena is partly attributed to the distinct laryngeal anatomy of the elephant larynx, which is not simply a large-scale version of its human counterpart. Travelling waves may be facilitated by low fundamental frequencies and increased vocal fold tension. A travelling wave model is proposed, to account for three types of phenomena: A-P travelling waves, 'conventional' standing wave patterns, and irregular vocal fold vibration. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex vibratory patterns in an elephant larynx

Švec

Lohscheller

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Such strategies may, however, also have important incidental benefits. For example, an individual that has found a good foraging patch might try to attract conspecifics to reduce its risk of predation, but also provides its conspecifics with information on the location of good forage, thus increasing the foraging efficiency of those responding to the call.A variety of mammalian species are known to communicate acoustically over distances of up to several kilometers [3,15,16], but while group formation via vocalizations has been well studied [3,17,18], incidental benefits such as increased foraging efficiency have received little research attention. In contrast, research on foraging efficiency has focused largely on independent individuals [19][20][21][22][23][24][25], or on comparing foraging behavior across species [26].…”

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confidence: 99%

Optimizing the Search for Resources by Sharing Information: Mongolian Gazelles as a Case Study

et al. 2013

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We investigate the relationship between communication and search efficiency in a biological context by proposing a model of Brownian searchers with long-range pairwise interactions. After a general study of the properties of the model, we show an application to the particular case of acoustic communication among Mongolian gazelles, for which data are available, searching for good habitat areas. Using Monte Carlo simulations and density equations, our results point out that the search is optimal (i.e. the mean first hitting time among searchers is minimum) at intermediate scales of communication, showing that both an excess and a lack of information may worsen it. [7,8], and to pool information on resource locations when no single individual is sufficiently knowledgeable [9][10][11][12][13]. Communication among individuals frequently leads to group formation [14], which often has clear direct benefits such as reducing individual vulnerability to predators. Such strategies may, however, also have important incidental benefits. For example, an individual that has found a good foraging patch might try to attract conspecifics to reduce its risk of predation, but also provides its conspecifics with information on the location of good forage, thus increasing the foraging efficiency of those responding to the call.A variety of mammalian species are known to communicate acoustically over distances of up to several kilometers [3,15,16], but while group formation via vocalizations has been well studied [3,17,18], incidental benefits such as increased foraging efficiency have received little research attention. In contrast, research on foraging efficiency has focused largely on independent individuals [19][20][21][22][23][24][25], or on comparing foraging behavior across species [26]. In addition, recent theoretical work [27] has focused on the statistics of a population of independent random walkers, but an interaction mechanism, and its influence on search efficiency, has not been thoroughly studied. To date, very few models have examined the potential effect that long-distance communication [28]

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“…In one example of a study of many thousands in the expansive literature that documents the complexity of mammals' minds, researchers made audio recordings of elephants for playback to familiar and unfamiliar elephants (McComb 2003). When elephants heard the voice of a family member while the family member was absent, they vocalized back and pursued the source of the sound.…”

Section: Mammals' Mindsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One capacity that is necessary for moral agency is therefore an attunement to significance capacity-the capacity such that things matter to the agent. 5 In distinguishing a moral from a nonmoral point of view, philosophers widely recognize an outlook that is beyond self-interest to be crucially necessary. Another necessary capacity is therefore the capacity to represent the welfare of others, which arguably mostly consists in emotional states, such as psychological distress; in other words, the agent must have capacity for other-regarding higher-order intentionality.…”

Section: Descriptive Criteria Of Moral Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral Agency in Mammalia

Reid

2010

BTS

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About the extent of moral agency in the animal kingdom, one view is that only humans are moral agents. Holding a different view, I argue that moral agency depends on the capacity for other-regard and the capacity to be attuned to significance-such that things matter to one. I derive a criterion where a creature is a moral agent if she performs an action that promotes others' significant interests and brings great costs to herself where she is aware of these significant interests and imposed costs. Failure to confirm that she has this awareness is a weakness of examples of moral agency in animals that writers provide, since she may be unaware of the significance of what she is doing. Since species of non-ape Primates and aquatic mammals satisfy the evidential criterion, moral agency is likely prevalent throughout much of Mammalia. I consider possible objections from Kant, Singer, and Korsgaard.

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Long-distance communication of acoustic cues to social identity in African elephants

Cited by 271 publications

References 21 publications

Complex vibratory patterns in an elephant larynx

Complex vibratory patterns in an elephant larynx

Optimizing the Search for Resources by Sharing Information: Mongolian Gazelles as a Case Study

Moral Agency in Mammalia

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