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Elephant Ethogram

An ethogram provides codes for scientists to efficiently record the behaviors of observed animals. It lists possible behaviors for a species with descriptions. Scientists at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique observed hundreds of behaviors in African elephants. Their sample ethogram includes categories like feeding, social, and protection behaviors. Feeding behaviors include eating and drinking, while social behaviors involve sparring and playing. Protection behaviors help elephants detect predators, like periscope-sniffing, or act defensively through charging.

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1K views1 page

Elephant Ethogram

An ethogram provides codes for scientists to efficiently record the behaviors of observed animals. It lists possible behaviors for a species with descriptions. Scientists at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique observed hundreds of behaviors in African elephants. Their sample ethogram includes categories like feeding, social, and protection behaviors. Feeding behaviors include eating and drinking, while social behaviors involve sparring and playing. Protection behaviors help elephants detect predators, like periscope-sniffing, or act defensively through charging.

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  • Elephant Ethogram

Elephant Ethogram

An ethogram is a list of possible behaviors for a particular kind of animals, including descriptions of each behavior. Codes
help scientists record data easily when they are observing animals in the wild. One way of using an ethogram is to observe a
single animal’s behavior at regular intervals, for example, every minute for 10 minutes or every 30 minutes for 10 hours.
Below is a small sample of the hundreds of African elephant behaviors observed by scientists in the Gorongosa National Park
in Mozambique.
Category Behavior Code Description
Feeding Eating
E Eating food by picking it up with trunk.

Drinking
D Sucking up water, then pouring it into mouth

Sparring
Social S Testing strength playfully by pushing against each other’s heads

Playing Pushing on each other gently or kicking objects playfully


P
Let’s Go
LG A female “rumbling” to herd, facing in direction she wished to travel

Head-raising
HR Raising the head while greeting other elephants excitedly.

Head-shaking
HS Shaking head and flapping ears to show annoyance

Protection Periscope-sniff
PS Detecting predators or gathering information by raising trunk and
sniffing the wind
Trunk-twisting
TT Twisting the tip of the trunk back and forth when nervous or unsure

Defensive-cirle
DC Encircling young with head outs

Charging
C Running at a predator or rival aggressively (can be real or mock)

Source: Adapted from Poole, J.H., and P.K. Granli. 2009. Gestures database. Elephant Voices. www.elephant voices.org
Picture Perfect Lessons, 3-5
Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry

Elephant Ethogram An ethogram is a list of possible behaviors for a particular kind of animals, including descriptions of ea

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