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 ...
The birth of an elephant
Why are elephant births important? Every birth of an elephant, as well as in nature as in zoos, is very important for species conservation because both African and Asian elephants are menaced of extinction. Why ...
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 ...
Asian elephants
Are there different sub-species? The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) can be divided by the zoologists in three subspecies: Ceylon elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) from Ceylon and/or SriLanka Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) or also ...
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 ...
African elephants
Are there different elephant species? The African elephant can be divided into 2 subspecies: Steppe elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) The steppe elephant settles in different habitats from the open grass country to wooded regions including ...