Christy Elephant at Brookfield Zoo--New Yard

Christy Elephant enjoys her new expanded yard at Brookfield Zoo. The elephant yard features a new mud wallow, a large sand pile, softer substrate overall, and a neighboring pool to wade through.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• elephant
• brookfield
• zoo

[ZooVisitorMM]

Keep your elephant exhibit open, please! Any elephant in your care will be in very good hands.

[ZooVisitorMM]

Elephants are individuals, just like all living creatures.

In the wild, most elephants thrive in groups out of necessity. But that does not mean they must live in groups to thrive - especially not in zoos, where their physical and even their emotional needs are met in other ways than they would be in the wild.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@cambridgeratmom I have done a little research. But more important, I have observed elephants in zoos. And I see peaceful, content animals that are curious and playful well into old age. It is true that zoos don't provide everything that nature provides for elephants, like drought, famine, un-treated infections, and illnesses, or dangers from the only predators they have - humans. But, in my opinion, elephants are better off without those things in their lives.

[cambridgeratmom]

@ZooVisitorMM : That's just plain ignorant. Elephants are social animals and need other elephants around to maintain their emotional well-being. Zoos do not provide that. Humans cannot provide for an elephant what other elephants provide for each other. Zoos are ill-equipped to provide much more than food for its captive wildlife. Do a little research and get some better information on the life of elephants in captivity.

[awesomeH2O]

I still do not think it is a real survival tactic to stay together. Bull elephants can travel alone but keep in contact with other elephants and will meet up with other elephants. I think that it is easier for an elephant to relate to a member of the species; they share the same language, many behaviors, and can communicate easily. However, Tarra the elephant's best friend is a dog.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O That is true. But don't you think it is possible that individual elephants could form equally strong bonds with individuals of other species who become a part of their lives (humans, and/or other species, like rhinos, etc.)?

And if they can and do, do you think they would absolutely have to have bonds with other elephants in that case?

[awesomeH2O]

@ZooVisitorMM It is true that females stay in herds, and yes, there are many benefits to this regarding survival. But female elephants form such strong bonds with their family members, and this shows that they don't stick together simply for survival.

[awesomeH2O]

@ZooVisitorMM There is one elephant I know about named Tara, a resident at the Elephant Sanctuary. For years, she and her owner, Carol Buckley, were in zoos and circuses. Tara did not really have friends until the Elephant Sanctuary started (Carol Buckley believed that elephants in captivity deserve different lives than how they live in zoos and circuses). During those 20+ of traveling around, Buckley was like a mother to Tarra. But Carol said Tara needed elephant companions more than anything.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O In zoos, elephants are protected from the forces of nature and are provided with a steady supply of healthy food and fresh water. In those cases, there will likely be individual elephants who will prefer the company of their human caretakers, who "spoil" them.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O You can't possibly know that elephant companionship is more important to them than human company. Elephants in the wild don't have the opportunity to have human companionship. They stay in social herds for many reasons associated with being able to survive. (continued)

[awesomeH2O]

@ZooVisitorMM I do understand that elephants are individuals, and that human companionship may help during situations when one elephant dies and the other is left without another one. But elephant companionship is much more important to elephants than the company of humans. They can relate much better, and they need to be together at all times. It is good for them to live in a herd society. Keepers may be great too, but elephant companionship is more important to them than human company.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O I know.