Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants - Softcover

Payne, Katy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140285962 ISBN 13: 9780140285963

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 1999

Synopsis

A natural history rich in observation of the animal world and how humans participate in it, Silent Thunder is also a passionate story of scientist Katy Payne’s spiritual quest as she turns a keen eye on her role in this world. Starting with the story of her revolutionary discovery that elephants use infrasonic sounds—sounds below the range of human hearing—to communicate, Payne shares what she learned from her fascinating field research in Africa, research that reveals new insights into elephants’ social lives. When five of the elephant families she studies are the victims of culling, Payne’s approach to her research changes, as she fights valiantly to protect the elephants. The result of her research, and the touching insights gained from Africans she worked with and the elephants she studied, give a vivid impression of Payne’s view from the front lines of the natural preservation effort. Like Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard and the writings of Jane Goodall, Silent Thunder demonstrates how a commitment to all life can bring one’s own into a new focus.

About this title

Review

Naturalist and bioacoustics researcher Katy Payne stood near an elephant cage at a zoo and felt a strange "throb and flutter" in the air. When she later realized that the feeling was very like that caused by the lowest notes of a pipe organ, she embarked on a journey of scientific and personal discovery that took her to Africa to study how the huge mammals communicate. For years, she lived close to the elephants she loved, getting to know individuals and describing their long-distance infrasound "conversations." After her fifth such expedition, one third of the elephant population she was studying was killed in a planned cull by the Zimbabwean government. Whether or not you accept Payne's hypothesis that elephants are extraordinarily intelligent and capable of communicating with each other and with other species (including humans), you will find her descriptions of the animals compelling and compassionate. Her grief at the loss of her elephant friends is palpable, and she uses it to utmost effect in decrying not only the ivory trade, but the way in which humans have decided to live on the planet. --Therese Littleton

About the Author

Katy Payne is an acoustic biologist whose study of humpback whale songs received national attention. A frequent lecturer on conservation and on animal behavior and communications, she is currently a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University's Bioacoustic Research Program. She lives in Ithaca, New York, and is the mother of four children.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0140285962
• ISBN 13: 9780140285963
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288