How We Use Sound to Help Protect Elephants from Poaching

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Photo by Scott Anger/Lost Bird Films.

NARRATOR: Forest elephants, a unique species living in the rainforests of Central Africa. The Elephant Listening Project works to ensure their survival and through them, the second largest rainforest on earth. Fifteen thousand are killed each year. Fewer than 40,000 survive today. When elephants are scared, they become nocturnal to avoid perceived threats. We see this happening more and more. We have used thermal imaging to peer into their night activities, and microphones to listen to their conversations. Even at night, they can't escape the unrelenting poaching. But through sound, we're finding out where the poachers go and when. The forest echoes with the sounds of gunshots. And elephants die for their ivory.

(spectogram of gunshots) NARRATOR: Three bursts from an AK-47 recorded a few months ago.

NARRATOR: Our Congalese team operates a grid of 50 recorders in Northern Congo. The recorders, specially designed here at the Lab, are installed high off the ground out of reach of elephants, out of sight of the poachers. We listen to the forest twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the calls of elephants, for the crack of gunfire.

NARRATOR: Now, for the first time, we can map in detail how the elephants are moving through the forest month by month. The red symbols are where we heard gunshots. With these detailed data, about where elephants and poachers concentrate, managers of protected areas, can refine anti-poaching efforts. By listening to the forest we can help stop the poaching. How can we allow these amazing creatures to disappear?

End Transcript

The rainforests of Central Africa are home to forest elephants, an endangered species. Each year, poachers kill 15,000 forest elephants for their ivory. Fewer than 40,000 survive today. By studying and monitoring the sounds of elephants, The Elephant Listening Project and its partners are working to help protect these majestic elephants and the rainforests needed by wildlife and people.

Watch the video to see how scientists from the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology use thermal imaging to peer into the night activities of elephants. Working with local partners, they also create a listening network in the forest, using automated sound recorders to hear the elephants’ conversations—and detect poachers, including gunshots.

With these data, the Elephant Listening Project has created maps for the first time showing where the elephants are within the forest, and where the poachers are finding them. These new technologies reveal key information to help managers of protected areas to fight against poaching. Your support helps the Cornell Lab use the science of sound to understand and protect wildlife around the world.

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