National Zoo - Elephant Trails

how much consturction has been done so far? they have been working on it since july 2007 right??

I think the project is about half complete.

@dragon(ele)nerd: It is a massive project that has run from the summer of 2007 and won't be finished until at least spring 2011. It is almost halfway done!

I doubt they will have more than their three elephants when they open. It will take at least a decade, probably longer, to get that number to eight.

@ColumbusZoo001: you really think that the zoo will only have 3 elephants on close to 4 acres of land? You might be right though, as there is a lack of births to accommodate all of the numerous elephant expansions that are ongoing in North American zoos. I think that there will be at least 17 zoos in North America that by 2013 will have 3.5 acre (or more!) elephant paddocks.

Lately there have been a lot of private elephants coming out of the woodworks that ending up in zoos due to owners/trainers seeking retirement.

Any word on what specific elephants will be showcased in this large set of paddocks? Are these the final plans or were there more alterations?

I'll need to post the photo tomorrow, but it looks like as of now Habitat 2 is split up. I started to see the other side of it on my last visit. It will be interesting to see the third exhibit as it's been hard to see any of that so far.

Going back to this, has anyone ever witnessed or heard about the elephant using the walking trek?

Is the National Zoo planning to get more elephants and is one of those elephants going to be a bull?