How do elephants walk? Elephants can neither run nor jump. Elephants walk on the tips of their fingers and on the tips of their toes. They are so-called digitigrades and belong to a group ...
European Elephant Group
Dear elephant lovers In 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, as well as in 2002, the European Elephant Group published in cooperation with the association ELEFANTEN-SCHUTZ EUROPA e.V. [PROTECTION OF ELEPHANTS EUROPE, registered association] altogether 5 ...
Death in the elephant stable
How old can elephants grow? The life expectancy of an elephant is between 0 and 50 up to 60 years. In spite of this high life expectancy, only a few elephants do actually reach ...
The commands for the elephants
How many commands does a zoo elephant know? In his daily contact with the elephants, an elephant keeper uses about 16 different commands. By means of these commands, he communicates verbally with the elephants. ...
Elephants in Chains
Is the chaining up of elephants an issue? The fact that elephants are restrained by ropes or chains is a topic on which there has been a lot of discussion, both among elephant keepers ...
Elephantbulls and bulls managements
Are bulls a big challenge? The male elephants represent a special challenge within the keeping of elephants. As is the case for most mammals, also with the elephants the male animal is stronger and ...
Bigness and weight of the elephants
How heavy is a fully-grown elephant? An approximately 20-year-old Asian elephant cow weighs 3500 – 4500 kg on average, and measures around 2.6 metres at the back. An elephant bull weighs about 5000 – ...
Keeping the elephants busy or the Behavioural Enrichment for the zoo elephants
Why do zoo elephants need to be kept occupied? In the wild, animals are active day and night looking for food and water, trying to evade their enemies, defending their territory, looking for a ...
Ankus, Elephant hook and wipe
What is an elephant hook? The ankus or elephant hook, in the colloquial language of the elephant keepers briefly named hooks, is an very old aid in handling elephants by humans in a direct ...
Anatomy of the elephants
How is a skeleton built up? As for all mammals the elephant’s skeleton is made up of skull, spinal column, extremities, ribs and breastbone. Since the different elephant species have different numbers of thoracic, ...