ElephantVoices on the net

[Guest guest]

Petter Granli <granli

____

 

ElephantVoices on the net

 

The first version of the Savanna Elephant Vocalization Project's

website, www.ElephantVoices.org is now online. Dr. Joyce Poole and

her husband Petter Granli have initiated the 3 year project. Joyce

Poole has studied elephants since 1975 and her recordings and

behavioral knowledge represent the main scientific background for the

SEVP.

 

" The SEVP is gathering, analyzing and systematizing the acoustic

repertoire of free-ranging savanna elephants and developing a

scientifically based multi-media collection. In developing the

collection we strive to establish a new scientific basis of

understanding for the intelligence and social complexity of elephants

and provide tools for their conservation and management. Our

intention is for the SEVP collection to be used by biologists,

wildlife managers, conservationists, educators and the general

public. The project represents the culmination of years of behavioral

and communication research on the Amboseli elephants, the longest

study of free-ranging elephants in the world. Components of this

collection will be made available to the public through the SEVP

website, the planned elephant website of the Macaulay Library of

Natural Sounds, Cornell University, a CD and popular and scientific

publications. This project represents the first attempt to put the

acoustic and behavioral repertoire of African savanna elephants into

an electronic multi-media format that can made accessible globally

for the purposes of conservation, education and scientific

advancement.

 

The Savanna Elephant Vocalization Project is an integral part of the

Amboseli Elephant Research Project and is carried out in affiliation

with the Kenya Wildlife Service.

 

We have chosen www.ElephantVoices.org as the name of the website

based on our goal that the three-year ambitious SEVP project will

establish this site as an ongoing and frequently updated elephant

communication competence bank. We also feel rather attracted to the

symbolic value of the name in relation to the interface between

elephant communication and conservation and our role in ensuring

these collective voices are heard. "