Huge Elephant Exhibits in U.S. Zoos

dragon(ele)nerd said:
Of all the Arican elephant exhibits in the world my personal favourite would be San Diego's. From what I;ve seen from the cam the elephants look happy, plus being a quite a herd there is many calves still to come in the future,






In the documentery in the womb, they followed an elephant at Rockton through her pregnancy. The exibhit looked great, and the elephants must be quite happy with a good water source and such a large herd.

There has been debate though that Rex has the herpes virus within him. When he was a possible donor at first for Chai's A.I
Click to expand...

I have not heard of this documentery about Rockton?, They had about 15 animals there from what I heard.

There are photos in the Gallery of Rex and other elephants at Rockton :cool:
 
Just to let everyone know, the Animal Kingdom encolsure is actually 9 acres
 
Quoting BlackRhino, on the subject of the close to 6 acres big elephant herd enclosure/savanna with mixed species at Borås Zoo, Sweden:

BlackRhino said:
... I would love to see a photo of this elephant paddock in Sweden and I am sure it is excellent.....
Click to expand...

Here are some examples, from the gallery at ZooChat:

http://www.zoochat.com/759/bor-s-zoo-savannah-48916/

http://www.zoochat.com/759/african-elephant-savanna-boras-zoo-54128/

http://www.zoochat.com/759/african-elephant-53985/

http://www.zoochat.com/759/elephant-hause-elephant-savanna-49075/

http://www.zoochat.com/759/boras-zoo-savanna-49072/
 
Several zoos in Missouri were planning to expand their elephant exhibits.

The Kansas City Zoo a few years ago wanted to expand its' already expansive exhibit and until recently, the zoo was planning to bring two cow and a new bull to jumpstart the zoos' breeding program. Unfortunately, the zoo was only able to bring in one female before the city cut some of its funding to the zoo, making it impossible to carry out their plan.

The St. Louis Zoo (which in my opinion has the best elephant exhibit I've seen so far) also plans to expand its acre habitat for its growing herd of Asian elephants. However, this probley won't happen for a couple of years.
 
MARK said:
I have not heard of this documentery about Rockton?, They had about 15 animals there from what I heard.
Click to expand...

They didn't specifically mention that it was at Rockton, though from the elephants in the herd and the exhibit you could tell. It showed a dolphin, labrador and elephant pregnancy.

Are they planning to move either one of Calvins offspring? Or are they planning to use both George and Johnston for breeding?
 
the SDZWAP elephant enclosure will soon be 12 acres, with the asians being moved to elephant oddessy and the san diego zoo, giveing the SDZWAP African Elephants run of bothe exibits, making it 12 acres in size!
 
Cat-Man said:
the SDZWAP elephant enclosure will soon be 12 acres, with the asians being moved to elephant oddessy and the san diego zoo, giveing the SDZWAP African Elephants run of bothe exibits, making it 12 acres in size!
Click to expand...

Even better news thanks for sharing cat-man.
 
Cat-Man said:
the SDZWAP elephant enclosure will soon be 12 acres, with the asians being moved to elephant oddessy and the san diego zoo, giveing the SDZWAP African Elephants run of bothe exibits, making it 12 acres in size!
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that both the enclosures were three acres and that the combination when the Asians moved to Elephant Odyssey would make it six acres for the Africans. Can anyone help with this?
 
Yes, from personal experience seeing them and researching it the Asian Elephant exhibit at SDWAP is 2.5 acres while the African exhibit is three acres. When combined it will make an approximately six acre habitat.
 
actually, i think would probably be more like 5.5. acres
 
@Zoogoer2000: the two enclosures for African elephants at the San Diego WAP are indeed 5.5 acres while separated, but in combining them in 2010 the park will use land in between and a 6 acre paddock will be created. Either way it means that it will be one of the largest exhibits of its kind, which is great news!:)
 
Yes, Scott is correct, not to mention the Africans will now have the off-exhbit Asian areas as well meaning the total space will most likely be over 6 acres. It will probably be one of the best African elephant exhibits of all time with the social structure replicated, and the enormous amount of roaming space.
 
Oh thats right, thank you. Does anyone know of any other pregnancies other than Ndula? She should be due pretty soon as well
 
Current NA Pregnant Elephants:
~
LA:
Christie @ Hogle
Asali @ Memphis Overton Park

EM:
Rosie @ Rio Grande
Shanti @ Houston
 
Thats Ndula - Zoogoer2000 already mentioned her so I didn't include her in the list. Plus I dont think she is due until 2010.
 
This isn't a zoo but The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has several acres for their elephants. One day it would be nice for zoos to have exhibits like these. These elephants have several acres for themselves and are allowed to knock down trees swim and lakes and do what ever they want. Together they all have 2700 acres!
 
kbaker116 said:
This isn't a zoo but The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has several acres for their elephants. One day it would be nice for zoos to have exhibits like these. These elephants have several acres for themselves and are allowed to knock down trees swim and lakes and do what ever they want. Together they all have 2700 acres!
Click to expand...

I doubt there isn't a single person on this website from North America who has heard of The Elephant Sanctuary. Everyone knows about it. Its a great solution for retired circus elephants, but not so much for zoo elephant.

On a different note: Cleveland Zoo's Elephant Crossing exhibit is well under-construction and they are making good progress despite the 4 month strike the workers went on in the winter. It will consist of three outdoors yards. Two of them that are 1 acre and a heated night range around a half acre making for about 2.5 acres worth of outdoor space.
 
kbaker116 said:
This isn't a zoo but The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has several acres for their elephants. One day it would be nice for zoos to have exhibits like these. These elephants have several acres for themselves and are allowed to knock down trees swim and lakes and do what ever they want. Together they all have 2700 acres!
Click to expand...

While the paddocks at the sanctuary are ideal for elephants they are nearly impractical for a zoological setting in that zoos can only offer so much space for a particular species and most guests would like to be "up close and personal" with an elephant rather than see a tiny dot on the horizon. Also a smaller exhibit can be maintained easier and more efficiently than a multi-acre paddock.

Snowleopard has brought this point up a few times. How big can an elephant enclosure get before it's impractical for a zoological setting. The current average exhibit size is around two acres but a wave of new multi-acre exhibits are pushing the boundaries of traditional exhibit size. Which is not a bad thing but the question remains: how big is too big?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top