HOW d’you digeriDOO?

A British player of the digeridoo (AKA: “the didge,” the didjeridu, and a million other spellings) who is also a researcher at Leeds University, has used the ancient Australian Aboriginal instrument as a means of communicating with Elephants at frequencies below that of human hearing.


He has tested the idea at British zoos, using a specially built sub-sonic version of the didgeridoo. The goal is to eventually use the instrument to warn Elephants away from crops and areas inhabited by humans, in parts of the world where the meeting of human and elephant traditionally leads to one or the other getting hurt.

The rough sketch for this illustration was posted here almost a year ago.

6 thoughts on “HOW d’you digeriDOO?”

  1. Another cool pic. Looking forward to the book.

    You going to be set up at Wondercon this weekend?

    In regards to your memoirs… the stories you’ve told here so far have been pretty great, no need to embellish, but if you do choose to do so, I would recommend not getting picked by Oprah’s book club… we all know how that works out.

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  2. John>> Yes, I will be at Wondercon, though I wont have anything new. The Elephant book wont be here until later (hopefully by APE).

    Thanks for your encouraging comments about the earlier posts about my childhood misadventures. I am not planning to write a memoir, but those recent writing exercises have made me wonder how people DO write them.

    Maybe I’ll use my stories as fodder for a comic, though?

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  3. So…..how DO you digeridoo? I have one in my living room, currently the home of a spider family. My kids asked for a demonstration, but I failed dismally.

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  4. Steve>> I have a DIDGE in my living room too. It was made for me by my brother ROB who is the only person I know who can play one of the things. I think that the trick is “circular breathing” but I digeriDONT know how to do that… when I try to blow out my mouth while breathing in through my nose, I almost pass out.

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  5. Neat!
    Hey, Jamie! I saw a guy just the other morning…friday I believe…playing the didge in the New Montgomery Muni station.

    Interesting sound. They way you describe how they play gives me the impression it creates a natural high. No wonder the people playing them always look like stoners. ;)

    Reply

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