Acoustic surveys require specialized equipment and training to perform the survey and analyze the results, whereas more common techniques like dung sampling are relatively easy to do and require very basic equipment. With acoustic sampling, researchers can't see the elephants, so they can't record additional information, such as sex, age, group size, and body condition. Background noises, such as thunderstorms, can reduce the ability to detect calls, either because the noise interferes with elephant calls, or because elephants call less frequently during storms.

Next Page