Elephant Crossing is fairly new (2007?) and so what is your verdict Ituri? It was just an expansion of the existing elephant yard, but at a cost of at least $10 million or more. How much space do the elephants have in terms of acreage? Are there two yards now? Also, what is in the exhibit in the foreground?
I was a bit disappointed in it personally. The elephant space has been greatly enlarged which is an enormous plus, my only problem was the architectural styling. I didn't really care for it aesthetically speaking. It is however a HUGE improvement over the old Tropical Eurasia building. There are now at least 2 elephant yards (I don't remember there may actually be 3). The elephants seemed to have plenty of room, and the outdoor amphitheatre around the perimeter of the exhibit was a nice place to sit and watch the elephants. The exhibit in the forground houses Bactrian camels.
I love the architerctural style of this complex! I think it is absoluting amazing! I will be going in August so I guess I will get my opinion of it and make my own decision soon!
You know, that really was my only deal with it. I always prefer an honest attempt at recreating a natural habitat. There really isn't much effort put in to conjuring up the forests of southeast Asia. Otherwise, the new building is great. HUGE improvement over the old dark and dingy building. Husbandry-wise, as far as I can tell from the outside it appears to be top-notch.
The exhibit is state-of-the-art and had facilities to accommadate elephant babies. Unfortunately, Malti died on November 1, 2008, to an elephant herpesvirus.
The enclosure in this photo held Bactian camels on my visit today, and the elephants only have one main yard and that is it. Spike, the bull, has a small side yard but on my visit all 4 elephants were in together and I would estimate that their paddock is one of the 10 smallest elephant exhibits in all of North America. I've seen a heck of a lot of zoos in the past few years and strictly speaking in terms of space I would say that Calgary definitely has a subpar enclosure and I'm glad to know that the elephants will soon be sent away due to "welfare reasons". That basically means: small space and freezing temperatures for 6 months of the year.
