Seismic Communication and Adventure Among African Elephants

Abstract

As the heir apparent to the voluminous nature travelogues of the Victorian era, contemporary memoirs from American scientists and conservationists have supplied an increasingly popular hybrid genre of science and travel writing. Unlike Victorian accounts of wealthy explorers traversing the colonies, these contemporary works are often imbued with earnest desires to reconcile the conservation of endangered species with the needs of local people. Caitlin O’Connell’s book The Elephant’s Secret Sense: the Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa, recently released in paperback, uniquely contributes to this literature in that the author is a female scientist still in the first half of her already-accomplished career. The book’s 17 chapters begin with the author’s experiences as an environmental contractor in Namibia as she first develops the hypothesis that elephants can communicate using seismic signals. Science then takes more of a front seat in later chapters describing her dissertation research carefully documenting the elephants’ listening behavior and responses to seismic cues. However, these scientific findings are secondary to a clear-eyed narrative of the substantial struggles of conservation work in marginally stable areas. Whereas many writers might tend towards rollicking barstool tales or professional triumphalism, O’Connell expertly captures the pace of international field work as an often languid enterprise punctuated by intense moments of achievement and frustration. Highlights include riveting descriptions of face-toface encounters with dangerous wildlife, bizarre dealings with impenetrable tribal bureaucracy, and personal tragedies that the author, and reader, will not forget any time soon. Prospective volunteers and graduate students contemplating field work in Africa would particularly benefit from O’Connell’s grounding account of her experiences. The text is not without appropriate romance, however, and reading it will prompt rather than dissuade those budding researchers from heading to the field. Anyone with an interest in animal behavior will enjoy the lengthy accounts of elephants interacting with conspecifics and researchers around the waterhole, as well as the author’s surprisingly vivid experiences with elephants in captive settings. The supporting human cast, such as the gruff native African sneering at the green American’s perceived “save-the-world” naivete before coming around to be a great help, is familiar but still entertaining. One disappointment comes from the author’s accounts of her conservation work with local women who perform a poorly-understood role in dealing with J Mammal Evol (2009) 16:137–138 DOI 10.1007/s10914-009-9107-0