This exhibit is going to be a great improvement for the elephants. The only bad thing about this new exhibit is that the original planned exhibit was going to be two or many times bigger than this exhibit.
here is the link to the Elephant Trails brochure with old site plan: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/A...rails/SettingAsianElephantsontheRightPath.pdf
In the site plan, all the yards in beige were going to be elephant yards.
On the thread Best Elephant Enclosures it is interesting to note that there will be at least 16 American zoos with elephant exhibits that are around 4 acres or larger in size in a few years time. By the year 2013 (which will be here sooner than expected!) all of the 1-2 acre elephant habitats in North America will still be great but at the same time they will gradually become more and more outdated. Great news for pachyderms!
It is exciting that they will have the elephant trek and soft floors which will help with all the captive ailments that are over-exaggerated by animal rights groups!
How are these various "Elephant Trek" things popping up in several zoos elephant designs actually going to work? Is it going to be a supervised "keeper takes Ellie for a walk" sort of thing, or will the herd be given free access to that area? I can see it being a great place for an ornry elephant to corner a herd-mate.
How are these various "Elephant Trek" things popping up in several zoos elephant designs actually going to work? Is it going to be a supervised "keeper takes Ellie for a walk" sort of thing, or will the herd be given free access to that area? I can see it being a great place for an ornry elephant to corner a herd-mate.
I have a feeling that the elephant trek at the DC Zoo will be used with supervision since the trek basically leads to nowhere. But the ones that will be at the LA Zoo's Pachy Forest will lead to the same exhibit.
