Ear to the ground: Locating elephants using ground vibrations

(Image: Pixabay CC0) - Researchers from the , Mpala Research Center and Save the Elephants, have used a combination of acoustic microphones and seismometers to locate elephants. In this novel study, published today in The Journal of the Royal Society Interface , researchers managed to accurately determine elephant locations by measuring the vibration of the ground caused by their rumbles, which are low frequency calls. To do this, they used seismometers, which are seismic sensors typically used for measuring earthquakes and explosions. Seismic waves pass through lots of different solid materials between source and sensor, unlike the acoustic waves. It was a surprise that the seismic sensors worked just as well as the acoustic sensors to localise the elephants, and in some cases they worked even better This interdisciplinary research, created in collaboration with computer scientists, earth scientists, conservationists, and biologists, used data gathered in Kenya, and is the first study to use seismometers to get locational information about elephants in the wild. Acoustic and seismic equipment was set up around a watering hole known to be frequented by elephants at the Mpala research center in Kenya, and paired with camera traps to provide additional data. Researchers discovered that the seismic dataset led to a more accurate localisation of elephants than the acoustic dataset.