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how far can elephants hear each other

by Marquis Greenholt Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Research has shown that elephants are capable of recognizing calls and voices of particular individuals from 1 to 1.5 km (0.6-0.9 mi.) away. Refer to Communication Section. The ears of the elephant are used to funnel in sound waves from the environment, contributing to its keen sense of hearing.

Full Answer

How much frequency an elephant can hear?

Several animal species are able to hear frequencies well beyond the human hearing range. Some dolphins and bats, for example, can hear frequencies up to 100,000 Hz. Elephants can hear sounds at 14–16 Hz, while some whales can hear infrasonic sounds as low as 7 Hz.

How far away can an elephant be heard?

The rumble sends signals through the elephant’s feet and into the ground for up to 30 miles away. Other elephants feel the sounds through their foot pads and are made aware of the location and movement of other elephants. Although humans can’t hear the sounds, we can feel and see the elephant’s forehead and chest vibrate.

What you can do to help elephants?

Method 3 Method 3 of 3: Taking Action to Protect Elephants

  1. Avoid products made with elephant ivory. Thousands of elephants are killed for their ivory tusks every year.
  2. Choose products that protect an elephant's habitat. Elephants may come into conflict with people when their habitat is used for growing coffee, timber, or palm oil.
  3. Read about elephant conservation issues. ...

More items...

How do elephants hear through their feet?

They also, astonishingly, hear with their feet. Yes, you read that correctly. Elephants can hear warnings sent through the ground from other elephants, received by pressure sensitive nerves in the pads on their feet. If you’ve ever seen a video of nervous elephants stomping around when they sense a predator is nearby, guess what? You’re seeing them send these warnings to other elephants who may be in the area.

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How far away can Elephants communicate with each other?

For African elephants, calls range from 15 to 35 Hz with sound pressure levels as high as 117 dB, allowing communication for many kilometres, with a possible maximum range of around 10 km (6 mi).

How does an elephant hear sounds from a far distance?

Elephants have large sized ears. This helps them to collect more sounds from various directions. So, they can hear sounds from a very far distance.

What frequency range can elephants hear?

17 hertz to 10.5 kilohertzThe hearing range extended from 17 hertz to 10.5 kilohertz. The results indicate that the inverse relationship between functional interaural distance (that is, the distance between the two ears divided by the speed of sound) and high-frequency hearing limit is valid even for very large mammals.

How Long Can elephants hear?

Elephants' ears help them hear long distances and therefore communicate! The elephants hear up to six miles (10 km) away from their current location.

What animal can hear the farthest?

Well, the phrase is extremely accurate! Elephants have some of the best hearing around. They can hear at frequencies 20 times lower than humans. It isn't just their ears that perceive sound; these majestic beasts also have receptors in their trunks and feet that are excellent at picking up low-frequency vibrations.

What animal has the best hearing?

The top 10 animals with the best hearingMoths. A specific moth, the greater wax moth, has been named as having the best hearing in the animal kingdom. ... Bats. ... Owls. ... Elephants. ... Dogs. ... Cats. ... Horses. ... Dolphins.More items...•

How long can an elephant hold its breath?

Because of this built-in snorkel, elephants can swim for hours without stopping. If they do get tired, the elephants' massive bodies allow them to easily float and rest—it's nearly impossible for them to drown! 10.

What is the hearing range of a cat?

The hearing range of the cat for sounds of 70 dB SPL extends from 48 Hz to 85 kHz, giving it one of the broadest hearing ranges among mammals. Analysis suggests that cats evolved extended high-frequency hearing without sacrifice of low-frequency hearing.

What is the hearing range of dogs?

SpeciesApproximate Range (Hz)human64-23,000dog67-45,000cat45-64,000cow23-35,00026 more rows

What are 5 interesting facts about elephants?

Top 10 facts about elephantsThey're the world's largest land animal. ... You can tell the three species apart by their ears. ... Their trunks have mad skills. ... Their tusks are actually teeth. ... They've got thick skin. ... Elephants are constantly eating. ... They communicate through vibrations.More items...

Can elephants hear music?

Elephants Love Listening To The Didgeridoo Elephants are very smart and emotional animals, who seem to have a similar affinity to listening to music as we humans do. The large mammals have been videoed reacting to all kinds of music played by humans including a grand piano.

What is the super sense of elephant?

They have five times more olfactory receptors than humans, and the most of any animal characterized to date.

Do elephants communicate with their feet?

More astonishing is the discovery that elephants may be able to sense these vibrations through their feet and interpret them as warning signals of a distant danger.

Do elephants communicate through vibration?

Elephants communicate primarily through sounds or vocalisations known as “rumbles”. These rumbles have fundamental frequencies in the infrasonic range below 30 Hertz, which means that they cannot be heard by humans, although the harmonics of the fundamental frequency are audible.

Why do elephants use infrasound to communicate?

Low frequency noises, below the frequency that human ears can usually detect, are used by elephants to communicate over long distances. The infrasound frequencies are good for long distance communication because they travel well through objects instead of being reflected.

How far can an elephant smell?

They can distinguish between the scent of Maasai pastoralists and Kamba farmers, and rely on their sense of smell to navigate long distances to find food and water (up to 19.2 kilometers).

How far away can elephants detect rain?

A team of researchers working in Nambia has found that elephants are able to detect rain storms from distances as far away as 150 miles. In their paper published in the journal PLOS ONE, the researchers describe how they tracked both elephants and rain over the course of several years and found the elephants were clearly able to detect rain events ...

What animals splash around in water?

Elephants are one such animal—they drink and splash around in temporarily engorged streams and other watering holes. Elephants are also migratory animals, with herds nearly constantly on the move in the search for food and water.

Can elephants hear low frequency sounds?

Prior research has shown that elephants not only can hear very low frequency sounds (which can carry for very long distances) but appear to use them as a means of communication between herd members. More research will have to be done to determine if the low-frequency sounds caused by the storms are the true source of the elephants ' skill ...

How do cats relax their larynx?

Cats tense and relax their larynx muscles for each pulse of sound, while singing humans’ vocal cords vibrate as air passes over them. To solve the puzzle, researchers whooshed warm air through an elephant's layrnx, simulating breath.

Do elephants vocalize?

Angela Stoeger, an elephant communication specialist at the University of Vienna and lead researcher, says, “Elephants vocalize using the same physical principles as we do, but their immense larynx produces very low notes” that the human ear can’t detect.

How much does an elephant's heart beat?

The average weight of an adult elephant’s heart is 12-21 kg (26-46 lb) which beats 28-30 times a minute. By comparison, humans have a resting heart rate of 60-100 beats per minute. Unlike many other animals, the elephant’s heart rate speeds up slightly when they lie down.

Why do elephants flap their ears?

The elephant’s ear acts as a cooling system. When elephants flap their ears in hot weather, large blood vessels on the back of their ears increase heat loss.

What is the difference between a forest elephant and a savannah elephant?

The forest elephants, found in dense West African forests, have longer, straighter downward-pointing tusks and rounder ears and are darker than the savannah elephant. The forest elephant has five toenails on its front feet and four on its hind feet, like the Asian elephant.

Where do elephants live in Asia?

Sri Lankan elephants inhabit the dry zone of north, east, and southeast Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the highest density of elephants in Asia, with a wild population estimated at 7,500. This subspecies is the largest and darkest of the Asian elephants. The Indian elephant is native to mainland Asia.

How long have elephants diverged from their ancestors?

DNA from both types of African elephants, the Asian elephant and the extinct woolly mammoth and mastodon (ancient elephant ancestors) showed that the two African elephant species had diverged genetically more than 3 million years ago.

How thick is an elephant's skin?

An elephant’s skin ranges from one-tenth of an inch to one inch in thickness. It is highly sensitive everywhere but especially sensitive in the armpits, the groin region, behind the ears and around the eyes. To protect their skin from sunburn, repel bugs and guard against overheating, elephants bathe, plaster themselves in mud and throw dirt on themselves, referred to as dusting. Natural wrinkles in their skin help retain moisture, while allowing excess heat to escape.

What are the two species of elephants?

Species: African Elephants. For centuries it was believed there were only two species of elephants–African and Asian. The African elephant was split into subspecies, the forest, and the savanna. Scientists believed the two were the same species with slightly different populations that mingled on the edges of the forest.

How do elephants communicate?

Elephants can communicate using very low frequency sounds, with pitches below the range of human hearing. These low-frequency sounds, termed "infrasounds," can travel several kilometers, and provide elephants with a "private" communication channel that plays an important role in elephants' complex social life.

What is elephant infrasound?

The so-called "infrasounds", i.e. sounds with pitches below the range of human hearing, are found to be produced with the same physical mechanism as human speech ...

Do elephants sing?

Thus, elephants "sing" using the same physical principles as we do, but their immense larynx produces very low notes. As an additional insight, the scientists were able to get a very clear look at some fascinating types of vibration called "nonlinear phenomena.".

Who removed the larynx from an elephant?

To find out, researchers at the University of Vienna, led by voice scientist Christian Herbst and elephant communication expert Angela Stoeger, removed the larynx from an elephant (which died of natural causes), and brought it into the larynx laboratory of the Department of Cognitive Biology (headed by Tecumseh Fitch).

Who are the scientists who study elephant communication?

In the current edition of Science, an international team of voice researchers and cognitive biologists led by Christian Herbst, Angela Stoeger and Tecumseh Fitch, provides new insights into the production of Elephant communication. The so-called "infrasounds," i.e. sounds with pitches below the range of human hearing, ...

Is elephant infrasound a human speech?

This mechanism, similar to cats purring, can produce sounds as low in pitch as desired, but the sounds produced are generally not very powerful. The other possibility is that elephant infrasounds are produced like human speech or singing, but because the elephant larynx is so large, they are extremely low in frequency.

How do elephants communicate at dusk?

Basically, around dusk elephants can communicate with each other over a much greater distance.

What is infrasound level?

The infrasound level is a range of sound waves which humans are incapable of perceiving with their own ears.

Do elephants have sound?

The sound structure of elephants is very much advanced. Over the course of the past few decades, there have been many studies completed on the infrasound hearing capabilities of elephants.

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Url:https://phys.org/news/2014-10-elephants-miles.html

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Url:https://www.audubon.org/news/how-do-elephants-talk-each-other

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