Does Seattle have any plans to expand their elephant exhibit to meet the new AZA size-standards (or does it meet them already), and do they have enough room for 3 cows and a bull?
Does Seattle have any plans to expand their elephant exhibit to meet the new AZA size-standards (or does it meet them already), and do they have enough room for 3 cows and a bull?
This 1989 exhibit meets the standards in terms of size and I have not heard about any reports of an expansion. There are currently 3 females which also meets the minimum requirement, but 2 are Asian (Bamboo and Chai) while one is African (Watoto) and the 3 of them never spend time in the same portion of the habitat due to behaviour issues. Being required to have 3 females of the same species could make things tricky for this Seattle zoo, and they've repeatedly attempted to fertilize Chai in order to get her pregnant. She had one calf about a decade ago but Hansa died from a strain of the herpes-virus when she was about 6 years old. My personal opinion is that it would not surprise me at all if Woodland Park went the route of Point Defiance and had an eye on Indian rhinos as a replacement for its elephants. Both attractions are only 2.5 hours from Oregon Zoo, which is building a 6-acre Asian elephant exhibit and has 7 elephants for those wishing to see Earth's largest land mammal.
