Mimicking Tiger growls can help Indian farmers scare off 'marauding' elephants

Researchers have found that Wild Asian elephants slink away when they hear a tiger roar but trumpet and growl before retreating from leopard growls.

Vivek Thuppil, who carried out the work with Richard Coss, professor of psychology at UC Davis, as part of his Ph.D. in animal behaviour, said that they noticed that the elephants were more scared of tigers than of leopards.

Thuppil and Coss studied the elephants' behaviour in an effort to prevent conflicts between human farmers and elephant herds that raid their fields by night.

The researchers set up equipment to play back leopard or tiger growls triggered when the elephants crossed infrared beams across paths leading to crop fields, and captured the events on video.

Leopards aren't known to prey on elephants, but tigers will sometimes attack a young elephant that becomes separated from the herd.

Although their initial reactions were very different, the elephants ultimately retreated from growls of both cats.

The study has been published in the journal Biology Letters.