Big Talkers- Friday, April

partly known

known together

known in the past

not known

Loud trumpeting sounds are just one of the sounds elephants make. They also make rumbles, barks, snorts, and cries to communicate with members of the herd.

Elephants have many more ways of communicating than most people might think. Elephants use touch, smell, noise, and movement to give one another messages.

An elephant’s trunk lets an elephant share messages such as “Let’s play” or “Danger!” The trunk has a sensitive tip for touching other elephants and picking up smells.

People and elephants both have a larynx, a body part that lets them make sounds. Elephants “talk” in low sounds, and elephants also use their sense of touch and smell a lot.

To suggest that the baby elephant is warning its mother that there is danger nearby

To show the reader what the baby elephant does to try to get its mother to play with it

To show the reader what the baby elephant does when it wants its mother to know it is hungry

To suggest that the baby elephant feels safe and protected when it is near its mother

They identify the ways elephants communicate.

They describe important roles in an elephant herd.

They tell why elephants need attention.

They compare ways that elephants find food.

But an elephant’s huge larynx produces very low sounds. (paragraph 3)

Some gestures—a twitch of an ear, a wag of the head—are so small that most people wouldn’t even notice them. (paragraph 4)

They think it may help the elephants focus all their attention on the sounds and smells around them. (paragraph 5)

If you ever wonder what an elephant is paying attention to, don’t watch its eyes. (paragraph 6)

An elephant’s ears help the elephant communicate.

Elephants usually feel either happy or scared.

A large herd will rarely experience danger.

Scientists are confused by an elephant’s body language.

to show the details scientists want to learn about elephants

to show that an elephant’s most important sense is the sense of smell

to show that elephants can identify members in their herd

to show that elephants gather information from different smells