Product Description

An engaging account of a renowned biologist's pioneering work with African elephants

This remarkable memoir of scientific discovery begins at the Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Oregon, where Katy Payne's revolutionary work in the field of elephant communication began. It was there that she first discovered the idea that elephants use infrasonic sounds--sounds below the range of human hearing--to communicate. This led Payne and her colleagues to conduct field research in Kenya, Namibia, and Zimbabwe that brought about fascinating new insights into elephants' social lives. When five of the elephant families they were studying became victims of culling, Payne changed her approach to her research as she fought valiantly to protect African elephants.

Silent Thunder is a natural history rich in observation of the animal world and how humans participate in it. It is also a passionate story of Payne's own spiritual quest as she turns a keen eye on her own role in this world. On every page Payne's courage and empathy shine through, giving this unique combination of scientific journal and personal memoir an unforgettable emotional power.

* A 1998 Scientific American Best Book for Young Readers
* A Book-of-the-Month Club Alternate and Quality Paperback Book Club selection
* Silent Thunder was featured on NBC's Dateline

"Payne excels at helping us to experience Africa and the majestic elephants." --The New York Times Book Review

"This book will make a wonderful addition to the library of any animal lover." --Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73202 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com 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

From Publishers Weekly
"I was hearing faint sounds that might have been overtones of stronger sounds that the elephants, but not I, could hear." In a chronicle that effectively blends memoir with the drama of scientific discovery, Payne (Elephants Calling), an acoustic biologist at Cornell, describes her role in the discovery of infrasonic communication between elephants. As she does so, she recounts her 13 years' study of African elephants?observing their social and family structures and behaviors, including the digging of wells. A scientist's respect for the elephants, "my gray friends," and for the native scouts informs her work. Payne writes, "You appreciate the value of silence when you watch elephants at night.... Every animal in the herd listens when the herd is listening. To use silence so well: if I could choose for people one attribute of elephants, I'd choose this." Payne can be passionate, especially regarding the issues of poaching and the harvesting of ivory, and she is convinced that any decision about ivory harvesting must take into account both the experience of elephants themselves as well as the historic relations between indigenous peoples and wild animals. Payne believes that "[i]n such a world animals reveal things to each other, and even occasionally to people like me: their attention to us is commensurate with ours to them." This book will make a wonderful addition to the library of any animal lover or of anyone fascinated by intra- and interspecies communication. Maps and drawing by Laura Payne.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this mixture of personal saga, social commentary, and scientific research, Payne researches elephants' use of infrasound (sound below human hearing) to communicate over long distances. She describes the research she undertook in Kenya and in Zimbabwe, a country that condones elephant culling. Dreadfully, most of the elephants she studied there were destroyed in a 1991 cull. She found this extremely distressful, withdrawing from her own research for a time. Upon returning to Zimbabwe, she faced more sorrow; three of her research associates had been killed in a plane crash. Most of the events of the book happened prior to 1992; perhaps just now Payne is able to write of them. Peppered with commentary, criticism, and catharsis, her book is neither pure natural history nor pure autobiography. Still, it offers interesting background reading for elephant followers. Acceptable for larger public libraries and large natural history collections.?Nancy J. Moeckel, Miami Univ. Lib., Oxford,
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A fascinating and lovely recounting
I read Ms. Payne's book in two days. It gripped me with its tales of Africa, and scientific discoveries, and magnificent, intelligent, sentient beasts. She describes clearly the people and animals of Africa, and treats all with equal respect. The description of the night she spent staring down a lion a few feet away was worth the price of the book alone. This is a wonderful book that taught me a lot about African wildlife and people--and the courage and soulfulness of a biologist who spent time among them.

An amazing window into the lives of elephants
A fascinating story about the discovery of infrasonic communication between elephants, her experiences with elephants, and the implications of culling on these magnificient creatures. Payne maintains a foundation of integrity in her book which opens your heart to these beautiful animals. It is full of facts, anecdotes, stories and passion. I highly recommend buying this book as it is an incredible story and it is for the elephants!

This a great book; elephants, like humans create culture.
This is a stunning and important book. When I finished I was overjoyed -- that Katy Payne had found language for the reality of elephant culture and the spiritual depth and integrity of the native peoples in Africa -- and I was ravaged by the truths she exposes of the ways that the colonial mind and presence have undermined the natural world and the lives of the indigenous peoples; ultimately animal and native peoples are marginalized and pitted against each other for survival. This book carries a profound understanding of the complex nature of elephants and dares to present the terrible vision of their circumstances from which we cannot and must not turn away. Because Katy Payne is such an honest and lyrical writer, because she is exacting as a scientist and a compassionate person, we can, if we allow ourselves, truly be transformed by taking in the implications of her observations and understanding. It is no exaggeration to say this is a great book which will forever change the ways we see the world.

Deena Metzger, co-editor Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals, Fawcett Columbine, The Ballentine Group.