111 – Evan Bittner – Asian Elephant Conservation Part 2

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 23:31.

In this episode, I continue my talk with Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne in Brains Matter’s continuing series on Asian Elephants. If you missed Episode 110, please go back and listen to that episode first. In this interview, Evan discusses:

- What can we do to reduce the impact on the ability to conserve the elephant?
- Making a difference
- What work is being done in artificial insemination techniques for elephants?
- What are the advantages of using artificial insemination for elephant populations?
- What are the transportation costs of an elephant?
- The differences in spending the same amount of money in different geographic locations – and how this impacts conservation efforts.
- How do the experts ensure the success of artificial insemination?
- Why does it seem to be more difficult to get elephants to mate in captivity compared to the wild?
- Can captive elephants be successfully re-introduced to the wild?
- Understanding herds in captivity and how they differ to herds in the wild
- Future research

We also demonstrate some of the various elephant vocalisations that have been discussed over the past two shows.

Download MP3 of Ep 111

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110 – Evan Bittner – Asian Elephant Conservation Part 1

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 17:31.

In this episode, I talk to Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne in Brains Matter’s continuing series on Asian Elephants. Evan discusses:

- Elephants and infrasound communications
- Determining how to measure elephant reactions to elephant vocalisations
- What are the meanings of some of the elephant behaviours we observe?
- The follow up experiment to Roger Short’s observation on Asian elephant vocalisations being played to African elephants – this time, African elephant vocalisations played to Asian elephants
- What further research can be done in this area?
- Do elephants really have a good memory?
- How do elephants recognise each other through sound?
- How far can elephants typically communicate?
- What is being done in elephant conservation work?
- What are some of the reasons causing the drop in elephant numbers? Why are they becoming endangered?
- Some of the work Evan has done in Laos
- The new elephant conservation charity, “Never Forget Elephants” that has been set up, and what it aims to do
- Some techniques to ensure that rainforests are conserved

Also in this episode are the Listener of the Episode, listener questions (Mark Wilson), and some listener feedback.

Download MP3 of Ep 110

Please vote for this podcast this month at

You can donate by clicking on the button above, and subscribe by subscribing in iTunes

View the original article here