When IDr. Karen McComb came to Amboseli Park, her first task was to learn the names of the one hundred or so elephants most often seen.
Scientists working in the park have learned to study elephants by watching them up close. They have a list of almost one thousand elephants. There are records for all of the elephants born since 1972. Amboseli was a good place for Dr. McComb to study animal communication. Elephants were a great subject because their lifestyle depends on communication.
Dr. McComb and her team had learned a lot about elephant communication, but they kept on thinking about one puzzling watch. Some families were better at distinguishing calls of friends from those of strangers.
What made some families smarter than others? The scientists searched their records for an explanation. To their surprise, there was only one factor of importance: The "smartest" families always had the oldest grandmothers. A family, as it did in all other activities, waited for some signal from the grandmother when they heard a strange contact call. And older, more experienced grandmothers were better at telling whether other elephants were strangers or friends just by their calls.
That was an important discovery. It showed how an elephant family depends on the experience of the grandmother.
