Elephant - Communication

Elephants teach and learn by behavioral examples and "talk" with vocalized sounds that can be described as screams, trumpets, growls, and rumbles. Originating from the throat or head, these calls can signal danger and express anger, joy, sadness and sexual invitation. An animal separated from its family will make "contact rumbles," which are low, vibrating sounds that can be heard at great distances. Once reunited, the family engages in a "greeting ceremony," reserved strictly for close relatives, in which excited rumbling, trumpeting, touching of trunks, urinating, and defecating occurs. Vocal sounds range from high-pitched squeaks to extremely powerful infrasonic sounds of a frequency much lower than can be heard by the human ear.