The Cutest Conversations with Baby Elephant Khanyisa! Rumbles, Roars, Snorts & More!

Khanyisa is one chatty little elephant! She has been rumbling, snorting, crying and trumpeting across her wilderness as she expresses herself to anyone who will listen, namely her herd or carers and Adine.

Most frequently, we hear her rumble but this video shows off all her many sounds as she communicates with those around her. The character of her rumbles is influenced by whether they are produced nasally through the trunk, or through the mouth.

“African elephants produce a broad range of sounds from very low frequency Rumbles to higher frequency Snorts, Barks, Roars, Cries and other idiosyncratic sounds. The most frequently used type of call is the very low frequency Rumble,” writes Elephant Voices (https://www.elephantvoices.org/)

In many ways, elephants’ sounds seem to mimic how we humans communicate verbally amongst ourselves and even to other animals.

The different call types depend on the elephant’s behaviour. Is it in distress, excited, happy, agitated…? The intensity of these calls depends on the animal’s excitement level and emotional state.

Of course there are many sounds we can’t hear, lacking the anatomy of an elephant’s inner ear, which helps it to detect low
frequencies and infrasonic tones.

Watch Khanyisa’s conversations over the months as we celebrate her three year birthday and see which other elephants you can spot!