Bored / depressed animals

johnstoni said:
At least Wendy was walked through the grounds. I've no idea if all their elephants were exercised in this way. She was notoriously tempermental, even objecting to the arrival of a new okapi in a nearby enclosure a few years back.
Click to expand...

The previous Asian Elephant at Bristol was Rosie, she gave rides throughout her adult life, her main (only?) form of outside exercise as the elephant house had no paddock then.

Wendy & her African companion Christina were walked in the grounds(almost) daily until they were quite large. After Christina died I don't ever remember seeing Wendy exercised alone and I think they had stopped taking them out anyway.
I think the last elephant kept with Wendy for a short while(a few months) was 'Mya' who is now at Chester. However Bristol said that SHE bullied Wendy(not vice versa) which is why they moved her out again.
 
That's quite sad that Rosie's only exercise was ride giving :(
Wendy was walked around the zoo by herself, I remember going when I was younger and feeding her bread :)
 
ashley-h said:
That's quite sad that Rosie's only exercise was ride giving :(
Wendy was walked around the zoo by herself, I remember going when I was younger and feeding her bread :)
Click to expand...

Rosie probably also stood on the lawn and collected pennies from the public to pop into the keeper's pocket- the Whipsnade elephants used to do that- helped augment the keeper's salaries in those days.

You are correct about Wendy- I have a postcard showing her out on her own with children feeding her. Maybe you are in the picture...;).
 
Haha! Hope not!
I do kind of miss Wendy though, although her life probably was pretty crappy.
The closest elephants to me now are at West Midlands I think...
 
Pertinax said:
I think the last elephant kept with Wendy for a short while(a few months) was 'Mya' who is now at Chester. However Bristol said that SHE bullied Wendy(not vice versa) which is why they moved her out again.
Click to expand...

This doesn't surprise me, much, Mya seems like a Large cow could of served as an intimadiating sight to Wendy, how large is she? Or there very could be other miscommunication,
 
Wendy was walked alone as late as 1998, that was the last time I saw her.

When I said she was tempermental, I should clarify....not towards people, but towards other animals. I think part of the issue with Mya is that she should have been the dominant individual, but Wendy didn't really have the right elephant social skills and was subsequently bullied rather than establish herself as subordinate so they could relax and eventually bond.
 
johnstoni said:
. I think part of the issue with Mya is that she should have been the dominant individual, but Wendy didn't really have the right elephant social skills and was subsequently bullied rather than establish herself as subordinate so they could relax and eventually bond.
Click to expand...

You could well be right. Wendy had very little chance to develop any social skills living with just one companion of a different species. I think Mya moved around quite a bit before ending up at Chester. At least Bristol did try to give Wendy a fresh companion although it didn't work...
 
Petal is not oldest elephant

This is directed towards zoom:
Petal was the oldest AFRICAN elephant. The oldest elephant in a US Zoo is Ambika who lives at the National Zoo. She is near the elephants average lifespan in the wild. This is due to the advances in technology at the zoo. Zoos are learning better ways to manage elephants in zoos. They are learning how to give the elephants a better quality of life.
 
Yes she is one of the oldest elephant in the United states after the death of Delhi, I believe she is 59-60,
 
Last edited:
Thanks, for correcting me, I forgot about Taj, Jenny I read about her once, Mem at Tampa zoo, I read somehwere else once that was around 50, must of been an old article, though I've never heard of southwicks before,

On elephant.se I usually only check the database and news page must always miss the stats!
 
CZJimmy said:
Just been browsing through Flickr and one thing really annoys me. The amount of comments by people on photos (and videos on youtube) that say they feel so sorry for the apes because they look bored and aren't smiling...

It just riles me up inside because these people are the type to tar every zoo with the same brush and don't realise that an ape which is 'smiling' is actually feeling threatened and a 'bored' expression doesn't neccessarily mean that they are bored...

Oh and the constant comparisons between zoos and prisons gets to me as well...:mad:

Rant over
Click to expand...

Keep ranting, please. More people need to speak out in favor of the good lives most zoo animals live, especially those living in U.S. zoos.
 
Zoo Visitor said:
Keep ranting, please. More people need to speak out in favor of the good lives most zoo animals live, especially those living in U.S. zoos.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

A friend of mine once wondered if the zoo animals looking at us thought we were the ones in cages. I often think about that when I overhear a visitor describe an animal as bored or stressed when they are exhibiting neither behavior. I often think the visitor is describing their own state of mind.

On the subject of great ape expressions of boredom (did Jane Goodall ever discover this expression?), I use to demonstrate for visitors what a chimp smile looked like. Maybe we should do that more often for visitors? Clearly, people need more education on wild animals and that's what we're here for!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top