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 ...
Elephant Training and Dressage in the zoo and circus
Why are elephants trained? Unlike domestic animals, which were bred continuously deploying the most suitable animals, elephants in the zoo and in the circus are wild animals – however sweet and nice they are ...
Pregnancy of elephants
How long does an elephant cow’s menstrual cycle last? An elephant cow’s oestrogen cycle lasts 3-4 months. Thus an elephant cow is only ready to be covered by the bull about 3 to 4 ...
Musth of the elephant bulls
What does the word “musth” mean? An essential part of the problems of the keeping of elephant bulls is the so-called musth. Musth is a word of Persian origin and is translated in the ...
Mice and Elephants
Are elephants really afraid of mice? The rumour that elephants are scared of mice is very persistent and there are whole collections of jokes circulating on this topic. However, these jokes are just as ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...