The Secret Communication of Elephants
Rumbles below human hearing, vibrations through the ground — and calls that may work like names.
By Biosphere Editorial Team · 2026-09-09
African elephants live in tight family groups led by an older female, the matriarch. Keeping a family together across a savanna requires a lot of communication — most of it at frequencies too low for people to notice.
Rumbles you cannot hear
Elephants produce deep rumbles, part of which are infrasonic: below the range of human hearing. Low-frequency sound travels far, and elephants can use these calls to stay in contact over several kilometres.
Listening through their feet
Research has shown that elephants can detect vibrations travelling through the ground, sensing them through their feet and trunk. Rumbles and footsteps create such vibrations, adding another channel to elephant communication.
Memory as a survival tool
In a study of elephant families in Amboseli, Kenya, groups led by older matriarchs were better at telling familiar callers from unfamiliar ones and reacting appropriately. Experience, it seems, is shared knowledge for the whole family.