News Animals

Elephants can tell men’s voices from women’s

Herds huddle closer when they hear speech they may recognize as dangerous

THE VOICE  A study of how elephants respond to human voices broadcast from a portable speaker suggests that Amboseli National Park’s elephants can tell a lot about a person just from how he or she talks.

Courtesy of G. Shannon

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

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Elephants may pick up on differences between the voices of men and women, and even between the speech sounds of two African ethnic groups.