Education:Science Projects: Listen Up!
Can Dr. Zoolittle talk to elephants? Not really, but he can show you how they communicate with each other.
Elephants have a unique way of communicating. Besides the usual trumpeting sound created with their trunks, they emit a low, rumbling sound from inside. (Dr. Zoolittle's stomach rumbles when he is hungry.) Their keen sense of hearing allows them to hear this rumbling vibration from miles (kilometers) away.
Snakes cannot hear. But they can feel things from the ground. Vibrations are sensed through their long bodies, which warn them about impending dangers. Here is a fun experiment you can do to create a sound vibration.
What you need
• Paper cup
• Piece of string
• Nail
What you do
1. Pierce the bottom of the cup with the nail. Make sure you have an adult help you with this.
2. Thread the string through the cup.
3. Tie the string to the nail on the inside of the cup.
4. Pull the string tight so that the nail rests on the inside of the cup.
5. Lightly pull on the string and listen to the noise it makes.
Another fun thing to do with this experiment is to get two cups and a longer piece of string. Attach the string to both cups using steps one through four above. Stretch the string, and get a friend to hold the other cup. Talk into the cup while your friend listens in his or her cup. This is a homemade walkie-talkie. The sound is a vibration that carries along the string. You should be able to hear each other perfectly.
A telephone joke
A zoo keeper was walking around the monkey enclosure with a banana in
his ear. A man stopped him and said, "You have a banana in your ear."
"What?" asked the zoo keeper.
"You have a banana in your ear!" the man said loudly.
"What?" said the zoo keeper.
"YOU HAVE A BANANA IN YOUR EAR!" the man yelled.
"Sorry, I can't hear you," said the zoo keeper, "I have a banana in
my ear!"
Catch Dr. Zoolittle in an entertaining show in the San Diego Zoo's Children's Zoo daily during the summer and every weekend and school holiday.
