Silver City, NM - In a remote village, surrounded by people who speak a different language, more than 8,000 miles away from her hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, Brittany Chiapetti set out to research Asian elephants.

"Elephants can live up to 60 years," said Chiapetti, a junior double majoring in zoology and psychology. "Yet they often die from being overworked, exhausted and dehydrated."

For six weeks this past summer, Chiapetti lived and studied in a remote village in Thailand. She volunteered for Global Vision International (GVI) and researched elephant vocalization. GVI facilitates research projects throughout the world with more than 2,000 participants each year.

"Up to four times a week, we hiked in the jungle and found the elephants," said Chiapetti. "We collected proximity data and touch data from elephants that were born in camps and were reintroduced into the wild."

As a volunteer for GVI, Chiapetti was not required to do research during her experience. She informed the group that she would like to conduct elephant vocalization research during her volunteer experience. GVI allowed her to collect data.

"Elephants make sounds that we can hear and some that we humans cannot hear," explained Chiapetti. "They have rumbles that we can hear and frequencies that we can pick up."

For Chiapetti, participating in the program opened her eyes to a culture vastly different from her own upbringing. She lived in the village of Huay Pakoot, which claims only 70 homes and 400 people.

"It was culture shock," said Chiapetti. "There are no chairs and people do not wear shoes. In Thailand it is illegal to be shirtless."

The Asian elephant is the national animal of Thailand and the country's residents have a special relationship with the large animals.

"Every elephant has a mahout, which is a caretaker," said Chiapetti. "Because of forestation there is almost no wild so each elephant has a caretaker."

Young boys are often assigned an elephant early in the animal's life leading to a close bond between a Mahout and the mammal. The bond can lead to conflicting relationships as poverty stricken Mahouts sometimes force their elephants to perform for tourists or live in working camps for money.

"I was educated about the conditions of these elephants," said Chiapetti. "Nearly two-thirds of all elephants are in captivity, working for tourists and even used to beg for money on the streets."

Back on campus, Chiapetti is taking her knowledge on the road as an ambassador for GVI. She is scheduled to speak in Albuquerque later this fall about her experience. On October 24, she will speak in Harlan Hall at 1:00 p.m. to WNMU students.

"An elephant dies every 15 minutes somewhere in the world," said Chiapetti. "My goal is to help educated people with issues that are faced by Asian elephants. The majority of them are tourist driven and I hope I can make a difference here at home."

Chiappeti's internship and research initiative was funded in part by Student Research and Professional Development Funds at Western New Mexico University.