Published

2 years ago

May 22, 2024

Alice Rush

Elephants are highly intelligent and social, forming close family groups and showing understanding, cooperation and empathy in their relationships.

Now, an international team of animal behaviorists have confirmed that elephants greet each other with a complex array of gestures and vocal cues, depending on the individuals and circumstances.

“Elephants live in multi-level societies where individuals regularly separate and reunite. Upon reunion, elephants often engage in elaborate greeting rituals, where they use vocalisations and body acts produced with different body parts and of various sensory modalities (e.g., audible, tactile),” the study said.

The researchers — from the Universities of Vienna, Portsmouth and St. Andrews — observed greetings between nine semi-captive African elephants on Zimbabwe’s Jafuta Reserve for a month in 2021, reported Phys.org.

“Greeting is a tricky context because it’s difficult to understand what the gestures mean. They’re more akin to hugs, kisses on the cheek, or hand shakes that we use when we greet each other. But our next steps are to explore gestures in wild elephants in more explicit contexts that can help us understand what they mean,” Vesta Eleuteri, lead author of the study and a PhD student at University of Vienna’s Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, told EcoWatch in an email.

^{Illustrations of frequent body act types used by semi-captive African savannah elephants during greeting. Drawn by Megan Pacifici}

Previous research revealed that elephants’ extreme intelligence is comparable to that of dolphins and chimpanzees. Their matriarchal social structures are also complex.

“Elephants show advanced intelligence to the extent of non-human apes. They are well known for their long-term memory, remembering paths to resources located km away for years. They have sophisticated discrimination skills — for example, they can distinguish humans of different ethnicities based on how they speak or smell. And elephants are known for their empathetic behaviour towards each other, often helping individuals in need. Elephants live in a multi-level society where individuals form different types and degrees of relationship with one another,” Eleuteri told EcoWatch.

Elephants pay attention to details of perception, such as whether others are looking their way. Most were more apt to make gestures if another elephant was watching, and they used loud ear-flapping to get their attention if they weren’t.

“Elephants were more likely to use visual gestures (such as ear-spreading, trunk-reaching, or trunk-swinging) when their partner was watching,” Eleuteri said, according to a press release from University of St. Andrews, “but used acoustic gestures (such as ear-flapping) or touched their partner when not being watched. This suggests they are able to take into account the other elephant’s visual attention when gesturing.”

Eleuteri said these targeted behaviors indicated they were tailored to their specific audience.

“In terms of their cognition, finding that elephants target gestures to their audience depending on whether the audience is looking at them, our study suggests that they might be able to take into account the visual perspective of others,” Eleuteri told EcoWatch.

The researchers found that it was not just female elephants who displayed evidence of close social bonds.

“In terms of their sociality, what was interesting to find is that our male elephants used the same excited and elaborate greeting behaviour used by closely bonded female elephants in the wild. This may be because our semi-captive elephants live in a tight social group, where individuals [are] likely more socially bonded compared to male elephants in the wild, who tend to be more solitary or form loose associations. This means that, like in humans, social relationships change the way elephants greet,” Eleuteri said.

The researchers discovered that elephants find greeting each other important. When two elephants meet who haven’t seen one another in a while, they both engage in behavior that is evidently meaningful. They may swing their trunks or use them to touch each other or flap and spread their ears. Vocalizations tended to be different types of rumbles.

“When we meet a long-term friend we may hug them strongly or kiss them, while when we meet a stranger we usually shake hands. Elephants do the same. In general, as previous research has observed chimpanzees and other apes altering their visual and tactile gestures according to whether they are being looked at and combining vocalisations and gestures in specific ways, these findings are important because they suggest that these communicative abilities have evolved independently in distantly related (and very physically different!) species sharing complex societies and advanced intelligence,” Eleuteri told EcoWatch.

In the new study, the researchers focused on greetings to find out whether elephants have additional ways to communicate that had not been previously observed.

“Elephants are known to have a rich repertoire of acoustic, visual, tactile, and chemical signals in their communication, so I was already pretty convinced about the complexity of elephant communication. However, the majority of studies on elephant communication concern their acoustic or chemical/olfactory communication. This may be because elephants are known to extensively heavily rely on hearing, while there is the common belief that elephants don’t rely much on vision,” Eleuteri said.

Eleuteri said earlier studies had shown that elephants do indeed use all of their senses when communicating, including sight and touch.

“Previous researchers like Dr. Joyce Poole had reported elephants using many conspicuous visual or tactile body actions in a variety of different social contexts, strongly suggesting that they do indeed rely a lot on vision or touch for social purposes. So it was nice to find that visual and tactile gestures are an important part of their greetings, that they use them by taking into account their greeting partner’s visual attention, and combine these gestures with calls in specific ways and orders. Elephants were also previously known to combine calls together in specific ways. The ability to combine signals in specific ways and orders is a necessary pre-requisite of syntax, so it might well be that elephants have some form of syntactic abilities in their communication, a realm for future studies!” Eleuteri added.

In the field, the research team observed and recorded 1,014 physical actions of elephants greeting each other, along with 268 vocalizations.

“There were thorough descriptions of wild elephants greeting with many different calls and body actions in an apparently chaotic manner, thus finding that they actually combine calls and body actions in specific ways and with some ordered structure was novel,” Eleuteri told EcoWatch. “We also found that elephants greet by appropriately targeting visual, acoustic, and tactile gestures at their audience depending on the audience´s state of visual attention (for example, if we’re in a noisy bar and I want to tell you ‘let’s leave’ and you are looking at me, I might use a visual gesture, but if you are not I might touch you). The ability to target visual gestures was previously shown from captive elephants towards a human. So finding this capacity between elephants, although quite expected for people who know elephants, was also novel.”

Elephants provide many ecosystem services and are essential to the habitats in which they live.

“Elephants are not just clever giants — they are a keynote species playing a crucial role in the environment they live in. They are known as the gardeners and architects of their habitats due to their massive ecological impact,” Eleuteri said.

Elephants face many threats that have caused their numbers to dwindle in the past century.

“It is estimated that, at the turn of the 20th century, 10 million African elephants roamed the African continent. Today, around 400 thousand elephants are left in Africa,” Eleuteri told EcoWatch. “Two of the major threats for wild elephants are poaching for ivory and habitat loss, the reduction of available space for elephants due to human expansion, which leads elephants to live in fragmented landscapes and engage in negative interactions with local communities.”

Despite their threatened status, Eleuteri remains hopeful for the future of these highly intelligent, empathetic and social guardians of the forest.

“Despite the dire situation, I still have hope that elephants will manage to survive and there are amazing people working hard for elephants and their future. There are a few places, like Botswana or Zimbabwe, where today their number is stable and, if left in peace, elephants have a nice growth rate,” Eleuteri said. “I think what people can do is avoid buying ivory to help decrease the interest in it and donate to elephant conservation organisations. More adventurous people can maybe join some volunteering programs to help them first-hand about (and experience how amazing they are!). In general, I think it’s important to raise awareness on how special, ecologically important, and how threatened elephants are to reach a wider group of people who can help them directly or indirectly.”

The study, “Multimodal communication and audience directedness in the greeting behaviour of semi-captive African savannah elephants,” was published in the journal Communications Biology.

The post Elephants Greet Each Other With ‘Elaborate’ Combinations of Vocal Cues and Gestures, Study Finds appeared first on EcoWatch.

https://www.ecowatch.com/elephants-greetings-vocal-cues-gestures.html

Green Living

How Toad&Co’s Clothes Help Everyone Enjoy the Outdoors

Published

4 days ago

November 25, 2025

Alice Rush

This is a sponsored article about a brand that was independently assessed by our rigorous ratings system. We’re proud to only collaborate with “Good” and “Great” rated brands. Learn more.

US brand Toad&Co has a socially and environmentally responsible approach to clothing, creating pieces inspired by the outdoors and with a lower impact on the environment. Not to mention an enduring commitment to helping everyone get outdoors through its work with non-profits. Read on to discover the brand’s environment-first ethos.

Focusing on what matters most

“We make feel-good clothes for positive impact—fostering community around doing good, enjoying life’s simple pleasures, and embracing the unexpected,” says Sarah Palladino, director of people and impact at Toad&Co as she introduces the Californian brand. This “simple pleasures” concept applies to Toad&Co’s approach to design, too, and prioritises quality and responsibility over trend-led items. This, in turn, means the brand focuses its energy on clothes that are comfy and practical enough for everything from work to outdoor exploring, and on maintaining its ongoing commitments to using lower-impact materials, partnering with cleaner factories, and looking for new ways to do more with less.

Since day one, it’s been about more than just clothes. From choosing sustainable practices in every corner of our business to supporting programs that protect the planet and make the outdoors more accessible to everyone—knowing we stand for more is what keeps us going

Gordon Seabury – CEO at Toad&Co

Lower-impact materials and producer responsibility

Opting for lower impact materials is one of the core ways brands can address their impact on the planet: “Sustainable materials make a world of difference,” Toad&Co says. “We use organic cotton, recycled fibres, and other high-quality materials known for low-impact growing and cleaner manufacturing.”

The brand’s selection of more sustainable materials includes organic cotton, hemp, TENCEL Lyocell, and recycled fabrics like wool, cotton, and polyester. It also looks to third party clothing certifications like bluesign®, OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, and Global Organic Textile Standard, and it publishes its list of restricted substances for all to see.

Toad&Co also operates a resale platform, called ToadAgain, online and at its IRL store in Maine, US, to keep its clothes in the loop.

Supporting non-profits and access to the outdoors

Toad&Co donates 1% of its profits to organisations working to empower others and, in particular, enable better access to the outdoors for all.

In 1996, Toad&Co partnered with Search, Inc. to co-found the Planet Access Company, a full-functioning warehouse that trained and employed up to 70 adults with disabilities annually.

Determined not to stop at the front door, the brand also co-founded Search for Adventure in 2004, a unique travel program to facilitate vacations for adults with disabilities. Over 20 years later, the social venture partnership has evolved—and includes a flagship store in Chicago, a program called Visibility Arts that nurtures creativity through sharing Search, Inc. artist’s work, neurodiversity and disability awareness training, and an expanded Search for Adventure program. In 2024, the brand supported 147 nights of camping for adults with disabilities through the program.

We give back to—and partner with—organisations that align with our three pillars of giving: conservation for human enjoyment, equity and accessibility, and do the right thing

Sarah Palladino – director of people and impact at Toad&Co

One of Toad&Co’s key partnerships is with Brave Trails, which is dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth leadership, to support it in putting on accredited camps, mentorship programs, and meet-ups for LGBTQ+ youth.

Shop favourites from Toad&Co’s new collection

Read on to discover some of the standout items that balance style with practicality from Toad&Co’s lineup.

Merino Heartfelt Hoodie

Woven with a beautiful alpine jacquard pattern, this hoodie is made from non-mulesed Merino wool and features pockets at the sides. It’s ideal as a mid-layer under a longer coat when you’re out exploring, or as a cosy item for grabbing a post-walk hot chocolate.

person wearing white knitted alpineglo jumper from toad&co

Alpineglo Sweater

This Alpineglo sweater is a blend of 50% organic cotton and 50% non-mulesed Merino wool, so it’s going to help regulate your temperature in most climates. On top of that, the neutral tone and straight fit make it really versatile—you’ll be reaching for it on the regular.

printed floral chaka trousers from Toad&co

Chaka Wide-Leg Trousers

Toad&Co calls these cropped trousers “sweatpant comfortable, going-out presentable”, which makes sense, given they’re made with organic cotton and Tencel Lyocell for softness and have a comfortable wide waistband, not to mention a pretty floral pattern.

people wearing reversible nomader jacket from toad&co

Nomader Reversible Jacket

This Nomader jacket is reversible, packable, and water-resistant. In other words, it’s the ideal item to take with you for outdoor adventures. It’s made from recycled nylon and lightly quilted for warmth.

person wearing printed padded manzana jacket from toad&co

Manzana Quilted Jacket

Toad&Co picked the crepe-like organic cotton for this jacket so that you could fold it away in a bag and have it still look presentable when you pull it out. It’s also packed with recycled polyester padding for extra warmth.

Balsam Cutoff Trousers

These Balsam Trousers are made with a tiny bit of stretch and a special waistband for comfort, so they’ll flex with you and feel good all the time. The neutral brown colour also goes with so many options.

Kennicott Shirt Jacket

Going from a walk to dinner? From the office to drinks? This Kennicott shirt jacket fits the bill for all of the above. The smart twill fabric incorporates recycled Italian wool.

Airsmyth Shirt

This is Toad&Co’s Re-Form Herringbone: a blend of recycled cotton and polyester that offers a soft drape and an attractive herringbone weave that looks smarter than the average checked shirt.

Balsam 5-Pocket Trousers

Like the women’s equivalent, these Balsam trousers have a touch of stretch and a comfortable ‘FlexForm’ waistband that mean they’re going to feel comfortable from the get-go—and you won’t need to worry about a belt, either.

Discover more of Toad&Co’s clothes.

The post How Toad&Co’s Clothes Help Everyone Enjoy the Outdoors appeared first on Good On You.

How Toad&Co’s Clothes Help Everyone Enjoy the Outdoors

Green Living

50 DIY Christmas Presents Anyone Can Make

Published

1 week ago

November 21, 2025

Alice Rush

Last Updated on November 21, 2025

If you’re on the handmade Christmas kick this year, you’re not alone. So am I!

I’m choosing presence over presents this year and bringing back the 90s Christmas I loved as a kid – simple, crafty, low pressure, and full of small moments that feel meaningful.

If you want to gift thoughtfully, and without breaking the bank, these DIY Christmas presents are for you. There’s something for everyone on this list – whether you prefer easy or complex DIYs.

I’ve included all kinds of DIYs – beauty, cooking, fashion, and practical gifts alike. Best of all? Many of these tutorials are zero waste (or close to it).

what are good homemade Christmas gifts?

Good homemade Christmas gifts include consumable items, like homemade nut butters, vanilla extract, or jams. But not all homemade gifts are edible – you can also make items like bath bombs, candles, body scrubs, beeswax wraps, and so much more.

If you’re extra crafty, you could even make wooden gifts (like shelving or tablet holders), ceramic items (like mugs or jewelry), or knitted/crocheted pieces (like blankets, scarves or hats).

It all depends on your level of skill, time at your disposal, and ingredients/materials you have access to.

50 DIY Christmas Presents Anyone Can Make

what are good inexpensive Christmas gifts?

Some good inexpensive Christmas gifts are DIY cornstarch ornaments, handmade body or lip scrub, seasoned salt blends, and homemade treats (like these chocolate chip cookies or vegan sugar cookies).

And never forget to hit up your local thrift store – you can find so many great items that would make affordable gift baskets!

Wrapping DIY Christmas gifts also doesn’t have to be expensive. Reusing gift bags and ribbons from last year, upcycling packaging paper, or even repurposing a scarf for furoshiki wrap are all low-waste and affordable!

how can I make a last minute gift?

You can make a last minute gift by getting crafty using the materials you have on hand!

For example, if you have a cardboard box, why not try making an upcycled cardboard dollhouse, vehicle, or pirate ship for a child? For adults, a DIY storage container or a shoe rack works.

One of my fav last minute gifts is scented bath salts in an upcycled glass jar – just a little Epsom salt and essential oil blends will do the trick!

Here’s my list of DIY Christmas gifts – something for everyone and every skill level.

Bath salts
DIY makeup like mascara/eyeliner, or lip to cheek
Bath bombs
Lip scrub
Lip balm
Face mask
Body lotion
Natural perfume
Dry shampoo
Shampoo bar
Body soap
Deodorant
Rose water toner
Hand-poured coconut/soy/beeswax candles
Simmer pot in a jar
Cookie, brownie, soup mix or hot cocoa mix in a jar
Handmade seasoning blends
Vanilla extract
Vegan caramels or plant-based butter wrapped in compostable parchment paper
Herb or citrus infused olive oil
Peanut butter + jam
Beeswax wraps
Apple or pumpkin butter
Sourdough or no-knead artisan bread
Finished embroidery hoops
Embroidered pillows, tote bags, clothes or cloth napkins
Sewn cotton rounds
Knitted scarf, hat, gloves, sweater, or blanket
Hand warmers
Quilt blanet, quilted coat or quilted wallet
Tie dyed secondhand silk scarves, clothing or sheets
Hand painted or drawn artwork
Air dry clay paint palette
DIY wooden frame for paintings or print photos
Handmade ceramics (mugs, chawan, chasen holder, vase, spoon rest, etc.)
Woodworked items (birdhouse, shelving, bookcase, wall guitar mount)
Carving wooden bowls by hand
Natural branch coasters
Plant propagations in one of these DIY planters
Seed balls using native seeds
Handwoven baskets or bowls
Macrame produce bag
Macrame plant hanger
Fabric paper mache bowls
Upcycled paper earring jewelry
Clay earrings
Handmade plush toys
Felt ‘food’ toys
Wooden toys (like vehicles, blocks, or dollhouses)
Knit or crocheted baby clothes

What do you think of these DIY Christmas presents? Let me know in the comments!

The post 50 DIY Christmas Presents Anyone Can Make appeared first on Going Zero Waste.

50 DIY Christmas Presents Anyone Can Make

Green Living

8 Best Non Toxic Rugs For a Sustainable Home

Published

3 weeks ago

November 6, 2025

Alice Rush

Last Updated on November 6, 2025

Did you know most rugs are made from polyester, aka plastic? Arguably, a good chunk of our furniture and home decor is nowadays.

And lets not forget – rugs can get a lot of foot traffic. If it’s made from polyester, chances are those plastic fibers are going to shed and get onto us. Or worse, in us.

8 Best Non Toxic Rugs For a Sustainable Home

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links; for more information please see my disclosure policy.

Microplastics have been found in human feces, blood, and even placentas. And according to a study from Stanford University, those who had microplastics in their plaque had a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death than those who didn’t.

On top of this, 5 billion pounds of rugs go to waste each year – that’s 2% of total US landfill. And if they’re made from plastic? They won’t biodegrade.

It’s more important than ever to reduce our exposure to microfibers where we can. Which is why I’ve rounded up the best non toxic rugs on the market.

what is the least toxic rug?

The least toxic rug will have sustainable materials and use no harsh chemicals (like PFAs) in their production.

Here’s what to look for when purchasing a non-toxic rug:

Sustainable materials, such as organic cotton, jute, sisal or wool
Low-waste packaging + delivery
Natural, non-synthetic dyes
Third-party certifications like OEKO-TEK, Fair Trade, GOTs
Easy to spot-clean or machine wash
Available in various styles, patterns + colors to suit your needs

do all rugs have PFAS?

According to Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), only four samples of 201 carpets and rugs were found to contain more than 100 parts per million in their fibers, indicating PFAS were intentionally added to the products.

However, while PFAs may not be a huge concern for rugs, microplastic pollution is, specifically if your carpet is synthetic. Your best bet is to check the material your rug is made from and choose natural fibers whenever possible.

what is the best non-toxic rug for nursery?

The best non-toxic rug for a nursery would be made from natural materials like wool and organic cotton (which are soft on baby’s skin).

I recommend also checking for natural latex for the rug backing and underlay pads. Brands on this list that offer kid-friendly sizes and patterns include Lorena Canals, Nestig, Quince, and Loomy (more on each below).

what brand of rugs are non-toxic?

The brands of rugs that are non-toxic are listed below. I’ve gone ahead and highlighted some of my favorite features of each brand, but it isn’t an exhaustive list. Be sure to check out their websites for more information.