How come glass isn't used for elephants and rhinos?

This exactly why moats are a bad idea. I remember seeing this online right after it happened at Zoo Emmen. Thank goodness Radza only suffered a broken tusk, and some scrapes. It could have been much worse. In fact the piece of tusk that flew off when it hit the side of the moat struck a visitor. If moats were gradual like in some mixed species enclosures that would have been a safer option. Warning: viewer discretion is advised.

 
Good gracious. I went to do a little research, and there are scores of elephants who have fallen into moats, even a whole section on elephants.se. An elephant named Annabel died just two years earlier in Emmen breaking a vertebrae. I've never seen non-gradual moats like these. With the landscaping, it's hard to tell this small moat is even there. The animals are very close, which is wonderful, but this is even more a risk as it seems to wrap around two sides of the exhibit, creating this point where a little enthusiasm and a lot of elephant make disaster a real possibility.
 
Yup, the moat in Emmen was a bit of a elephant-hazard. Besides Radza, one if the first elephants ever born in Enmen fell in, broke a leg and despite efforts of casting it, the youngster was euthanised in the end.

On the other hand, a lot of elephants have been kept in that exhibit and a lot of youngsters were born there, without too much problems.

Anyways, the exhibit is now gone with the move to Wildlands (to be honest, the exhibit still exists, empty, at what now is a public park).
 
AmbikaFan said:
Good gracious. I went to do a little research, and there are scores of elephants who have fallen into moats, even a whole section on elephants.se. An elephant named Annabel died just two years earlier in Emmen breaking a vertebrae. I've never seen non-gradual moats like these. With the landscaping, it's hard to tell this small moat is even there. The animals are very close, which is wonderful, but this is even more a risk as it seems to wrap around two sides of the exhibit, creating this point where a little enthusiasm and a lot of elephant make disaster a real possibility.
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Berlin Tierpark still has a series of exhibits in possibly an even more aggressively moated style, although hopefully not for too much longer.
 
In theory 4 inches of glass could withstand an elephant crashing into it. However, it's whether the visitors feel safe that is really the problem. If the glass viewing cracks but doesn't break, it wouldn't exactly make the visitors comfortable and feel safe, although they are in fact probably entirely safe. This is an important consideration in other structures like bridges. If a bridge starts to sway as large numbers of people and cars walk and drive over it, the people will not feel safe even though the bridge could take threefold the mass it is carrying.
 
Since this thread was last updated, I've had occasion to learn a bit about plastics, and there is a product called Lexan that is virtually unbreakable, 100 times as strong as Plexiglas, It's very expensive, but if it is scratch-resistant, it would save a lot in ongoing maintenancel It would certainly be the best option over glass for a situation where an animal can physically break glass.

I have been haunted by the footage of Radza's fall into the moat in Emmen. On one hand, I can't believe he survived unharmed. Speaking as the queen of falls and broken bones and replaced joints, the amount of his own weight plus gravity would have caused immense force on the ribcage he landed on, and possibly other organs, not to mention limbs flying against wall structures. Does anyone know if they later found he had internal injuries?

I'm ashamed to say that I also love the viewing of this exhibit. That tiny moat allows for such close proximity AND unobstructed views, a combination most elephant exhibits can't match. I yearn to photograph elephants at NZP, but they are either obstructed by bollards or so far away that a good closeup isn't possible. I think this exhibit could have been made safer for the elephants, without ruining the visitors' views, simply by placing some rockwork or barrier at that dropoff where he fell in. Even a low fence would have helped a bit in this situation. It's beautiful to watch in this situation how concerned the females are and one tries to help.

The old NZP exhibit relied on moats and short steel railing-style barriers. When a new member recently reminded me of the time strongwoman African Nancy had had it with an upstart teenage African bull named Dzimbo and pushed him into the moat. We were looking at pictures of the time, and there was indeed at least a 4-5' railing/fence designed to keep the elephants from falling. Unfortunately, this meant that (Don't Mess With) Nancy had somehow propelled this annoying teenager completely over the railing and into the moat, making the fall even harder He was moved but died of internal injuries not long after. Elephants can't lie down for long periods because the weight pressing on organs could be fatal--it's still amazing to me that Radza's fall didn't end this way. What a beautiful herd.
 
Glass was used for Indian Rhinos at CERZA, last time I was there - one of the German zoos for another Rhino spp too, Black I think, but I cant remember where.
 
Andrew Swales said:
Glass was used for Indian Rhinos at CERZA, last time I was there - one of the German zoos for another Rhino spp too, Black I think, but I cant remember where.
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There are glass in the two rhinos houses (indian and Southern white) in CERZA.
The german zoo is Cologne ans it was told in one of the first posts in this thread.
There is also a glass viewing in Amersfoort for the asian elephants outdoor enclosure if I am right.
 
Last summer I went on a month-long trek to 95 European zoos and here are some examples of rhinos behind glass:

Cologne Zoo (black rhino exhibit):

full


Allwetter Zoo Munster (white rhino exhibit):

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I also visited Amersfoort Zoo in the Netherlands (Asian elephant exhibit):

full
 
Great Argus said:
Elephants is strength... also many have habits of throwing rather heavy items. I've read stories of elephants getting ahold of manhole covers and flinging them like frisbees. One such cover went right over and smashed a new large pane of glass... All an elephant would need is one good-sized rock or heavy item and you've got a problem...
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Minnesota Zoo had an exhibit window badly damaged by a bear rolling a boulder, lol. Other zoos have had similar incidents with gorillas. I can see how elephants and rhinos might be risky for this.
 
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