Elephants have a lot to say — and it’s more complicated than you think. “You can hear them talking,” says Bob Poole, director of photography on National Geographic’s new, lushly filmed four-part documentary, Secrets of Elephants. “They make decisions about which way to go, for example. It’s interesting.”
Some of their speech is too small to be heard by the human ear because “their deep bass sounds can penetrate the earth and travel,” Poole explained. “So elephants are able to communicate with each other over long distances at frequencies that we can’t hear.”
Those are just some of the amazing revelations covered in the movie narrated by actress Natalie Portman and featuring the passionate insights of conservationist and elephant expert Dr. Paula Kahumbu and elephant researcher Dr. Joyce Poole (Bob’s sister).
The teams tracked the large mammals across Africa and Asia to better understand these amazing creatures and how they use communication to survive. The first episode explores the difficult conditions faced in Namibia’s Namib Desert – or, as Portman describes in her narration, “what is the most difficult place on Earth to be an elephant.” Life is already difficult for them and the changing climate has made it worse, so only 150 desert elephants remain today.
In a stroke of luck, however, one more was added to their number while Poole and his team were filming – the first time a newborn desert elephant had been caught on film. “It was all very dramatic,” Poole recounted of the moment. “There was a terrible drought, and all the children that were born died.” Miraculously, this calf, a female, came to life. What’s more – shortly after his birth, the flock enjoyed rain for the first time in eight years.
Secrets of ElephantsSeries Premiere, Saturday, April 22Disney+
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