What does a day in the life of a zoo elephant look like? A typical day for an elephant, e.g. at Zurich Zoo, might look somewhat like this: 07:00 The animal keepers begin their ...
Zoo born elephants
Between 1900 and 2017, 20 elephant births took place in Switzerland: 1963 1.0 Sahib-Friodolin at Circus KNIE (Ceylon/Siam) 1965 0.1 Madura at Circus KNIE (Java/Siam) 1966 0.1 Ota at Zoo Basel (Idunda/Omari) 1984 0.1 Komali ...
Teeth, second dentition, Tusks
What is special about elephant teeth? In contrast to humans, elephants are lucky enough to undergo further dentition 6 times. Teeth are not, however, exchanged from the bottom to the top (vertically), as in ...
Medical care of elephants
Are elephants frequently ill? Elephants are basically robust animals, with a very good physical constitution. This applies especially to well-fed and well cared-for zoo elephants who are not exposed to any stress. Where do ...
Ankus, Elephant Hook and Whip
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 ...
Elephant foot and foot care
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...