But there's far more variation in human voices than in our natural body odors or the types of clothing we wear. If elephants were able to distinguish among the Maasai and the Kamba in terms of auditory features hidden in their voices, then that would represent a far more sophisticated sort of reasoning.
McComb and her group conducted almost 150 field playback experiments with 48 elephant groups in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. After playing the sound through their loudspeakers, they recorded any defensive posturing or aggression as well as attentive behaviors such as listening or investigative sniffing.
Their first discovery matched the 2007 findings: elephants were more likely to react defensively to the voices of Maasai males saying "look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming" in their language than to the voices of Kamba males saying the same thing in their language.
But a second experiment was more surprising. When played the voices of Maasai men and women, the elephants responded far more aggressively to the male stimuli. That makes a good deal of sense, as Maasai women aren't involved in the elephant-spearing events that characterize Maasai culture.
However, when the researchers artificially modified the voices, making the male voice sound female and vice versa, the responses were unchanged. In other words, the elephants responded to the sex of the original speaker, rather than the perceived sex of the resynthesized voice. That means that the elephants may truly be aware of vocal features that are associated with human sex, such as the females' more "breathy" voices, rather than other correlated variables, such as fundamental frequency. "Elephants do not appear to base their sex distinction solely on the cues most commonly used by humans to distinguish between the voices of the sexes," McComb says.
Finally, the elephants also distinguished between the voices of Maasai men, which pose a threat, from those of Maasai boys, which don't.
Hidden in her conclusion lies a message that should be impressive and also slightly terrifying. It is remarkable that a species so different from ours has become so familiar with us that they can respond to our voices with such specificity and nuance. And yet it is equally heartbreaking that elephants have had enough experience with human aggression that evolution has endowed them with that ability. If there's a silver lining to be found, it's that the elephants know that not all humans are to be feared.
- More Here
McComb and her group conducted almost 150 field playback experiments with 48 elephant groups in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. After playing the sound through their loudspeakers, they recorded any defensive posturing or aggression as well as attentive behaviors such as listening or investigative sniffing.
Their first discovery matched the 2007 findings: elephants were more likely to react defensively to the voices of Maasai males saying "look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming" in their language than to the voices of Kamba males saying the same thing in their language.
But a second experiment was more surprising. When played the voices of Maasai men and women, the elephants responded far more aggressively to the male stimuli. That makes a good deal of sense, as Maasai women aren't involved in the elephant-spearing events that characterize Maasai culture.
However, when the researchers artificially modified the voices, making the male voice sound female and vice versa, the responses were unchanged. In other words, the elephants responded to the sex of the original speaker, rather than the perceived sex of the resynthesized voice. That means that the elephants may truly be aware of vocal features that are associated with human sex, such as the females' more "breathy" voices, rather than other correlated variables, such as fundamental frequency. "Elephants do not appear to base their sex distinction solely on the cues most commonly used by humans to distinguish between the voices of the sexes," McComb says.
Finally, the elephants also distinguished between the voices of Maasai men, which pose a threat, from those of Maasai boys, which don't.
Hidden in her conclusion lies a message that should be impressive and also slightly terrifying. It is remarkable that a species so different from ours has become so familiar with us that they can respond to our voices with such specificity and nuance. And yet it is equally heartbreaking that elephants have had enough experience with human aggression that evolution has endowed them with that ability. If there's a silver lining to be found, it's that the elephants know that not all humans are to be feared.
- More Here
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