Welcome to ElephantVoices

Visit The Elephant Ethogram - with over 3000 video clips, sounds and photos
Join ElephantVoices on a Day in Amboseli
Join 345,000 elephant friends on ElephantVoices on Facebook!
Learn more about why elephants are extraordinary
Watch why we should #behavemoreelephants
Help us make a difference for elephants - click on image to Donate Now!
Learn about the intricacies of the social life of elephants
Meet Dr. Joyce Poole, Co-Founder of ElephantVoices
How do elephants communicate? Sight, sound, scent, touch and vibration…
Visit the fascinating elephants in Gorongosa, Mozambique
Learn how to sex and identify African elephants
Meet Petter Granli, Co-Founder of ElephantVoices
Elephant needing your help? Find sound arguments in "Statements & Testimonies"

CHECK OUT ELEPHANTVOICES ON INSTAGRAM

Happy 70th birthday to our matriarch, Joyce Poole! From the age of 19, you dedicated your life to elephants. Through decades of patient observation, groundbreaking research, and deep empathy, you have revealed the richness of elephant communication, intelligence, and emotion, and helped the world see elephants as individuals, families, and societies shaped by deep bonds and culture. Your legacy is written not only in science, but at the heart of a movement to understand, respect, and protect elephants globally. So, here’s to you, Joyce - for a lifetime of listening, learning, and standing up for elephants. 🐘

The behavior illustrated in this photograph is Ear-Brush: Purposefully brushing a (usually) flared ear against the face, head or body of another. • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephantbehaviour #knowyourelephants #elephant

Elephant calves can be difficult to age, but a useful rule of thumb is this: if a calf still fits beneath its mother’s belly, it is well under a year old. 🐘 #elephantvoices #babyelephant

You may have noticed that we’ve been a little quiet recently - its for good reason. Behind the scenes, we have been hard at work on something we’re really excited about: the complete redesign and development of our new website. Our site has served us well, but over time it has become outdated. As our work has grown, so too has the volume and depth of the content we share - and we recognized the need for a platform that could better support our work in a more accessible, engaging, and dynamic way. We’re just putting the finishing touches in place, so you’ll have to wait a little longer to see it - but we can’t wait to share what’s coming. #ElephantVoices #NewWebsite

Mark your calendars for Sunday, 22 March 2026 at 19:15, when a very special episode of @bbcradio3 'Between the Ears' airs. In 'Between the Ears': science journalist Laura Spinney explores a remarkable archive of elephant calls and behaviour with @elephantvoices' Joyce Poole. Together, they listen to intimate moments of birth, joy, mating, danger and death - from the elephants’ perspective - alongside Joyce’s own field-note recordings from decades of study. We really enjoyed working with Laura and producer Julian Mayers for a couple of days in December while they were here recording this episode with us. We can’t wait to hear the final program and we hope you’ll tune in and experience the world of elephants in this special way. (link in our bio) #ElephantVoices #ElephantCommunication #BetweenTheEars #BBCRadio3

Pascal is in full musth. He has been Listening and Musth-Rumbling in and beside a water hole and while feeding on grass. In this clip he begins to walk, Trunk-Dragging and Musth-Rumbles and Ear-Waves. He reaches his Trunk-Toward and sniffs the air. Then he raises it to a Periscope-Trunk. We know, in retrospect, that he is about to meet musth male Emo and likely knows Emo is close by. We are so focused on Pascal that we don't see Emo coming! After Periscope-Trunk he drops his trunk over his temporal glands in a half-hearted Head-Toss and then lets it fall onto his tusk in a Casual-Stance. He pivots 90 degrees and begins a more pronounced Musth-Walk. He has seen Emo. The behavior illustrated in this video is Trunk-Dragging: An elephant dragging the distal and outer portion of a curled trunk on the ground making a rasping sound; often leaves a continuous or intermittent snake-like mark on the ground. Musth males, particularly, may drag their trunks along the ground for long distances (3 kilometers has been observed) when Walking or Tracking another elephant; musth males and elephants of both sexes may drag their trunks on the ground as a threat at very close range. Please note this footage was taken in 2020 during filming for The Elephant Ethogram. Elephant ID: @amboseli_trust • Want to learn more about elephant behavior? Visit our website www.elephantvoices.org or click the link in our bio. • #elephantvoices #theelephantethogram #elephantbehaviour #knowyourelephants #elephant

Clearly, this was a conversation we weren’t part of. The elephants are interested in something on the ground - can you guess what it is or do you think it’s something only elephants understand? (Spoiler alert: it’s a bit yucky)

Today on #WorldWildlifeDay, we celebrate one of Earth’s most intelligent and socially complex animals: the elephant. 🐘 You might ask - why focus on elephants today? What do elephants have to do with World Wildlife Day? Elephants are a keystone species. By shaping landscapes, dispersing seeds, opening access to water, and creating habitats used by countless other animals, they help entire ecosystems. When elephants have space to thrive, biodiversity flourishes. For over 50 years, ElephantVoices has studied elephant communication, cognition, and social behavior - documenting their lives, relationships, and cultures, and revealing just how much is at stake if they are lost. Protecting elephants means protecting the web of life that depends on them. So today, we reaffirm our commitment to research, conservation, advocacy, and education - ensuring that science guides the protection of elephants as individuals and as a species, and safeguards the many species that depend on them. Your support makes our work possible! Donate today (link in bio) Thank you! #ElephantVoices #Elephants #KeystoneSpecies #Biodiversity #Conservation

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