Elephant Audio-Recording Collar System

The low-frequency ‘rumble’ vocalizations of African elephants are difficult to detect and attribute to specific individuals. Click here to listen to a low pitched rumble that is barely audible. If you were not very close to the elephant you would not be able to hear it, and even if you did, it may be hard to know who produced it if more than one elephant was around. This creates a big problem for trying to study elephant vocal communication. In most cases, it is not possible for humans to detect enough rumbles to examine naturally occurring sequences of vocal behavior. We have found a way to overcome this problem, by developing a customized audio-recording collar system that picks up vocalizations from identified individual elephants. Our elephants cooperate with their keepers, so it is easy to attach and remove collars on study days. We put the collars on the elephants in the morning and the rest of the day is spent "eavesdropping" on their conversations. We also videotape the herd at the same time that the collars record their sounds, so that we can see what social behaviors they engage in while producing each call. In this way, we can begin to understand what elephant vocalizations might mean.

First audio recording collars

Each collar records audio and sends the signal to a receiver station via a unique radio frequency. These collars were designed and maintained by David Rudolph and Brian Walters of Walt Disney World Ride and Show Engineering, modifying a design by William Langbauer Jr. and Steven Powell.

In our lab, we analyze animal vocalizations using a variety of bio-acoustics software including SIGNAL®, PRAAT® and Adobe Audition®.

Our African elephant vocal communication research is conducted cooperatively with the Elephant Management Team at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, without whose active help the work would not be possible. The Elephant Team is responsible for the day-to-day management and care of the elephants, and they attach the
audio-recording collars to the elephants in the mornings and remove them in the evenings. They also participate in video data collection and provide needed information on the history and social dynamics of our herd.

Click to see a high resolution or a
low resolution video of our elephants wearing the audio-recording collars.
(The high resolution video
will take a minute to load.)

To learn more about Elephant Communication please visit the links below: