ElephantVoices

We are continuing to fight against the trophy hunting of Amboseli’s elephants in Tanzania. Gradually, the issue is gaining more media attention and we would like to share this excellent article by Malavika Vyawahare of Mongabay, who has been able to capture some of the points missed by other journalists. Vyawahare points out that the claim by hunters and many conservationists that trophy hunting is sustainable as long as populations are “healthy” overlooks the importance of individuals in communities formed by highly social animals like elephants. Poole said bulls older than 35 years are “keystones” for male society. “Just like in humans, you can’t just take out a leader in the society and think it doesn’t have repercussions,” Poole said. And Vyawahare raises a concept that may seem other worldly, but is gaining traction as scientific advances and the use of AI allows us to understand the cognitive abilities and communication of other species: that we should take into consideration their perspectives too. “It seems so wrong to me that animals that move back and forth, freely across a border, should belong to anybody except themselves. These are autonomous, conscious, self-aware animals who have names for one another.” - Dr Joyce Poole The killing of Amboseli tuskers spotlights more than one company’s practices; it shows the limits of the human endeavor to subjugate the wild world to human-made laws.

We are once again asking you to join us in appealing to the President of Tanzania to stop issuing licenses for trophy hunters to kill elephants in Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro borderlands and to put a permanent ban in place to protect this unique, long-studied, habituated cross-border population. Avaaz is taking the lead on this petition to help us reach a broader audience. We are so grateful for your support in this issue!

Our commitment to protecting elephants is inspired by our love and respect for them, both as individuals and as a species. This dedication is rooted in our understanding of them, gained through long-term study. To protect their lives and preserve the beauty of their habitats, we must inspire others to feel the same. For this reason, education and the sharing of knowledge are important aspects of all that we do. You can learn more about elephants on our website www.elephantvoices.org #theelephantethogram #elephantvoices #conservation #elephants

A new study has found that African elephants may have their own names for each other, just like humans do.🐘💙 In this publication, “African elephants address one another with individually specific name-like calls,” evidence is presented that suggests that elephants are able to determine from a calls structure if it was addressed to them, without relying on imitation of the receiver’s calls, a phenomenon that was previously known to only occur in human language. These findings could have important implications for our understanding of language evolution and they radically expand our perception of the expressive power of language. The findings, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, were informed through the decades long, continuous monitoring, of specific African elephant species from the Amboseli, Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Parks in Kenya. The long-term monitoring of specific populations, whether it is elephants or sperm whales, is crucial for understanding how these populations experience threats to their natural environments, and can be utilized to effectively inform species-specific conservation efforts. Moreover, it is pivotal to have highly trained animal specialists working in these efforts, who gain intimate knowledge of and from these animals, to further exploration and scientific dialogue in the field of interspecies communication. This is illustrated through two of the authors of this paper, Dr. Joyce Poole and Dr. Mickey Pardo presenting their findings last year at the “Decoding Communication in Non-Human Species II” workshop, co-hosted by CETI and the @Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. Watch their presentation and read the full paper authored by Mickey Pardo, Kurt Fristrup, David S. Lolchuragi, Joyce Poole, Petter Granli, Cynthia Moss (Elephant Trust), Lain Douglas-Hamilton and George Wittemyer, here: https://lnkd.in/eR9MhhTp https://lnkd.in/eMj4DFQP Additionally, check out The New York Times article talking about the study here: https://lnkd.in/dzuTgt8X 📸: Elephant in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, from Art of Safari. ElephantVoices #CETI #Africanelephants #animalcommunication #interspeciescommunication #science #language

Together with the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and the Center for Biological Diversity, we have filled a petition to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) seeking a permanent rule banning U.S. trophy imports from the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro elephant population. For 30 years, this longest-studied elephant population was safe from trophy hunters. But, over the past nine months, five mature males from the population have been killed by trophy hunters in Northern Tanzania. Among these, one elephant was killed by a U.S. trophy hunter from Texas, and it is likely that other U.S. hunters have been involved. The U.S. is the largest global importer of elephant trophies from Tanzania. Shutting down the U.S. market for this population could significantly contribute to protecting these long-studied elephants from trophy hunters. “These magnificent prime breeding males hold immense sustainable biological, economic and cultural value while alive, but their contribution to both human and elephant societies ends once they’re killed. As the largest importer of elephant trophies from Tanzania, the U.S. could greatly help protect these elephants by preventing the importation of tusks from this unique population.” - Dr Joyce Poole For more information, please read the full petition here: https://lnkd.in/d4cNTXp9 #stoptrophyhunting #endtrophyhunting #amboselielephants #elephantvoices

Our letter, “Stop elephant hunting in Tanzania borderlands,” has been published today in Science Magazine. As the 24 co-authoring elephant biologists and conservationists, we urge Tanzania and Kenya to recognize the immense scientific value of the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro cross-border elephant population. We call on both countries to collaborate on a unified conservation strategy that establishes a zero-elephant hunting quota for this population and promotes photographic tourism. Rather than issuing another unsustainable quota for rare breeding aged males with large tusks, we ask Tanzania to join Kenya in protecting them and giving them space to roam freely. “Alive these ‘super-tuskers’ have great biological, economic, and social value; once they are shot, their contribution ends.” You can read the full letter here: https://lnkd.in/d5ySBd9y

The intuitions we gain about elephant cognition and communication through long observation are eventually confirmed. 🐘 Save the Elephants Colorado State University Mickey Pardo #elephantnames #elephantcommunication #scientificdiscovery #elephantvoices #elephants

A TREASURE ON THE BRINK The Amboseli elephant population represents one of the world's most precious natural treasures. As the longest-studied wild elephant group, they have captured the hearts of conservationists, researchers, and nature enthusiasts globally. Amboseli stands as a rare haven where elephants have been able to thrive relatively undisturbed, with a healthy age structure spanning from newborn calves to elderly matriarchs in their 60s, and remarkably, many magnificent bulls in their reproductive prime. This is a stark contrast to the devastating decline witnessed elsewhere across Africa, where elephant populations plummeted from 1.3 million in 1979 to just 600,000 a decade later, primarily due to the ruthless ivory trade and habitat loss. Today their numbers are somewhere around 350,000, although it’s been a few years since a comprehensive census was conducted. The Amboseli elephant population is around 2,000, depending on the time of year. Recent events have cast a dark shadow over this celebrated population. Trophy hunters have killed five elephants just across the border in Tanzania’s Enduimet Wildlife Management Area, including 35-year-old Gilgil, an Amboseli tusker entering his prime. With fewer than 50 tuskers left in Africa, and at least 10 in the Amboseli ecosystem, the urgency to protect these magnificent creatures has never been greater. Amboseli's elephants, are not just significant for science but also cultural icons and essential contributors to the biodiversity and health of their ecosystem. Losing Amboseli’s elephants is an incalculable loss for the world. All elephants need protection. Majestic bulls, targeted for their awe-inspiring tusks, are not trophies but vital contributors to the genetic health and resilience of a population cherished the world over. By supporting ongoing conservation efforts, we can ensure that Amboseli’s elephants continue to roam their ancestral lands, inspiring awe and wonder for generations to come. Join us in this critical mission. Together, we can protect and preserve the natural heritage of East Africa, ensuring that both wildlife and local communities thrive. Donate today: https://lnkd.in/gnJQK5xz 📽: Jeremy Goss #elephants #wildlife #kenya #conservation #amboseli

CSU scientists have called elephants by their names, and the elephants called back. 🐘📢 A groundbreaking study from Warner College of Natural Resources, Save the Elephants and ElephantVoices revealed that wild African elephants address each other with name-like calls. This is a rare ability among nonhuman animals. When the researchers played recorded calls, elephants responded affirmatively to calls that were addressed to them by calling back or approaching the speaker. Calls meant for other elephants received less of a reaction. “Dolphins and parrots call one another by ‘name’ by imitating the signature call of the addressee,” said lead author Michael Pardo, who conducted the study as an NSF postdoctoral researcher at CSU and Save the Elephants, a research and conservation organization based in Kenya. “By contrast, our data suggest that elephants do not rely on imitation of the receiver’s calls to address one another, which is more similar to the way in which human names work.”  Learn more about this new study: https://col.st/ivGKY

Joyce was interviewed for Sky News by her favorite news anchor, Yalda Hakim on Tuesday night. If you missed it, you can watch the interview here (it starts at around 36 minutes in): https://lnkd.in/d3yPdniQ *Please note that the recordings of Shirley and Echo don’t match the elephant footage shown on screen.