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 ...
Bottle fed elephantbaby – Upali
Who is Upali? Upali was born after a gestation of 662 days, on November 14, 1994 at 3.15 a.m. After Komali and Panang, Upali was Ceyla’s 3rd birth. 2 Weeks later, Upali withdrew, became ...
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 ...
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, ...
Accidents with Elephants
Do many accidents happen with elephants? There’s no year without happening some heavy accidents with elephants. We are informed about 3 to 4 dead elephant keepers every year just in the European and North-American ...