Female elephants rumble to say ‘let’s go!’ New study in Namibia shows males do too, a sign of unexpected social bonds

By Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, Principal Scientist, Harvard University

In elephant family groups made up of related females and their young, it is clear that the animals produce vocal sounds to coordinate action. This happens when it’s time to leave a waterhole, for example. The matriarch or dominant female steps away from the waterhole and turns to the direction she intends to move in. Then she flaps her ears as she makes a short call referred to as the “let’s go” rumble.

What follows is a highly coordinated “conversation” of sorts. The female elephants in…

Read complete article

~	Prioritizing entertainment over substance is a dangerous trend in modern political reporting

~	Personal histories shape how immigrant families transmit their home language to children

~	Friday essay: We all live in the world of Ayn Rand, egomaniac godmother of libertarianism. Can fiction help us navigate it?

~	‘I don’t believe I would have gotten into university’: how early entry schemes help Year 12 students experiencing disadvantage

~	Endure – or peter out? Here’s what Northern Rivers organisers and Stop Adani can teach us about building climate groups

~	Scientists reviewed 7,000 studies on microplastics. Their alarming conclusion puts humanity on notice

~	As the Quad meets again, is it all optics and no substance?

~	More than half of people who use party drugs take ADHD medicines without a prescription, new research shows

~	How a doubling of sentence lengths helped pack England’s prisons to the rafters

~	XEC: what you need to know about the new COVID variant