Elephant Sanctuary
The Phoenix Zoo’s Elephant Sanctuary
Thank you for visiting Phoenix Zoo’s Elephant Sanctuary website link. Here at the Phoenix Zoo we strive to provide the best lives possible for our elephants. We believe in providing a relaxed environment where the elephants can spend most of their day just being elephants. Our elephants are not pressured to perform, we only ask them necessary husbandry behaviors such as presenting their feet for daily checks and presenting their ears for blood draws. We aim to give our elephants as many opportunities to exhibit natural behaviors as possible. One main way we do this is by offering all their hay in hanging hay nets to simulate browsing. These hay nets also increase the amount of time it takes the elephants to consume their daily ration of hay. We also either hide their treats or present them in puzzle feeders to help increase their foraging time. Elephants in the wild will forage for 18-20 hours a day so increasing foraging time in captivity is very important. Not only does increasing their foraging time keep our elephants busy for more of the day but it also helps to drastically decrease the stereotypic behaviors often observed in captive elephants.The Story Behind Our Elephants
Three female Asian elephants, Indu, Reba, and Sheena make up the Phoenix Zoo’s Elephant Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was created in effort to provide a home for challenging animals so they learn and live together peacefully and become members of a true heard. Before making their home at the Phoenix Zoo these elephants have been labeled as “problem animals” at other institutions because of their temperament and unwillingness to get along with other elephants. Through the Elephant Sanctuary’s program, these elephants have been able restore their dignity of being elephants, and have been allowed to simply do the everyday tasks elephants do as naturally as possible.Meet Our Asian Elephants
|
Indu Indu was born in Thailand in 1965 and was brought to the United States at a very early age. She came to the Phoenix Zoo in 1998. Indu is a very dominant and outgoing elephant that definitely knows what she wants. She often demands attention by vocalizing or banging on things with her trunk when keepers are near. She loves to eat, with bananas and melons being some of her favorite treats. Indu can be identified by the large amount of pink coloration on her ears. |
|
|
Reba Reba was born in Asia in 1970 and was brought to the United States as an infant. She came to the Phoenix Zoo in 1999. Reba is also a very dominant elephant. She is incredibly intelligent; for keepers can tell she’s contemplating things by just looking into her eyes. Reba has a serious history of aggression but this tendency has decreased in the past few years. Her keepers must still be incredibly cautious around her but it is obvious that her trust levels are increasing. Reba is a very playful elephant who loves the water; she can often be seen splashing in the pool on exhibit. Reba can be identified by the large amount of pink around her eyes. |
|
|
Sheena Sheena was born in India in 1971 and was also brought to the United States as an infant. She came to the Phoenix Zoo in 2000. Sheena is a fairly submissive elephant. She sometimes needs to be encouraged to go on exhibit with corn, her favorite treat. Sheena is not a very vocal elephant but often rumbles when keepers pay her special attention. Sheena is known as the shy but clever one, often figuring out new puzzle feeders before the other elephants. Sheena is very hairy which makes her easily identifiable from the other elephants. |
|
Elephant Diets
Each elephant here at the Phoenix Zoo consumes approximately 120 lbs of food
every day. While this diet consists of several types of fruits and vegetables,
the majority of their diet consists of hay. We normally have two types of hay to
give the elephants, Bermuda and Timothy. The keepers have a few options on how
to offer the hay to the elephants each day. While it would be easy to just place
the hay in big piles on the ground, the keepers have found key elephant
behaviors that are not consistent with the foraging behaviors of wild elephants.
Wild elephants have to search all day for their food they need to live on. This
foraging activity can take up most of their day, walking up to twenty miles a
day finding grasses and browses that they need to sustain a herd. By putting hay
in one pile provides no activity. The elephants would get no exercise and end up
consuming their entire daily meal in less than two hours. This speedy meal
leaves the elephant with nothing to do for the rest of the day, does not promote
naturalistic behaviors, and creates boredom. Instead, the Phoenix Zoo elephant keepers have created other means of dispersing their food by presenting them with similar situations that they may encounter in the wild.
They use cargo nets attached to elevated feeders with hay inside through various areas of the Elephant Sanctuary for elephants to roam and reach for their hay up high. A little bit more challenging, but in the long run will keep them healthier and happier.
Daily Routines/Husbandry
Proper
care of elephants takes a lot of time. Here at the Phoenix Zoo
we shower the elephants everyday and check their feet. We have
hot and cold water in our barn and use a power sprayer to hose
them down. The entire process takes at least half an hour for
each elephant. Showering an elephant is very important, it helps
to exfoliate their skin and remove any debris. By showering them
everyday and giving them access to natural substrates to scratch
on, we’ve seen dramatic improvement in their skin condition. The
skin is healthier and they have a lot more hair growth.In addition to showering and foot checks we also do other procedures needed to care for captive elephants. Elephants in captivity generally don’t grow much tail hair. They are constantly banging them on unnatural surfaces such as concrete and steel. This can cause numerous problems such as ingrown hairs, which can be very painful. We do daily tails soaks for our elephants in warm soapy water which helps soften the skin. This, in turn, helps prevent ingrown hairs.
Wild
elephants walk 20-30 miles a day constantly moving and foraging
for food. Elephants in captivity don’t walk as much as they
would in the wild. Exercising is another important way in which
we care for the elephants. We walk the elephants around our
exhibit by using treats and encouragement. This exercising is
good for their overall general health, especially their feet.Medical Procedures
One of the most important medical procedures that we do is weekly blood draws. We draw blood for two main reasons. First, it’s done to test and check their general health. Second, and most importantly, is to be sure that we can draw blood when needed. For example, if one of the elephants had something wrong, we would be able to draw blood from behind their ears instead of having to immobilize them, which can be dangerous for such a large animal. By having the elephants trained to present their ears, it’s safer and less stressful for them.
The keepers spend everyday with the elephants and are constantly examining them.
One of the most important things to watch for is overall body condition.
Elephants in captivity have a tendency to be overweight due to inactivity and
rich diets. Here at the zoo the elephants are weighed monthly. We have target
weight ranges for all of the elephants to try to make sure they stay as healthy
as possible.
Another procedure that we do is test for tuberculosis, or TB. Elephants are
susceptible to the human strain of TB and must be regularly checked for their
safety and ours. The procedure to test for TB requires the elephants to accept
about 60cc of saline being flushed into their trunks. The elephants are then
trained to blow the saline into a plastic bag. The fluid in the bag is then sent
to be tested for the presence of TB.
Elephant Foot Care
Foot
problems are the number one killer of captive elephants. It’s
very important to take proper care of their feet. Here at the
Phoenix Zoo this doesn’t just include daily foot checks but also
includes monthly trimming. Elephants in the wild walk 20-30
miles a day, naturally wearing down their nails and pads. In
captivity, elephants don’t walk nearly enough so it’s necessary
for keepers to trim their feet. Although at first glance it may
not be obvious, elephants actually walk on their toes. Because
of this, tremendous pressure is applied to each nail and
overgrown nails can quickly become a huge problem. Keeping the
nails properly trimmed is vital to having healthy elephants.
There are three major components to trimming elephant’s feet. First, you must
have sharp tools. Sharp tools make trimming easier for the keepers but more
importantly it is easier on the elephant. Sharp tools make the trimming process
go faster and there is less pulling and tugging on potentially sensitive areas
of the foot. Secondly, you have to treat each nail independently. Every nail on
an Asian has a particular shape, some nails are “horseshoe shaped” and some are
“teardrop shaped”. When trimming the nails it is important to keep those shapes
in mind. Lastly, you need to have space between the nails, preferably one-finger
width. On the front feet the center nail is often crowded by the nails on either
side of it, those three nails are the ones that frequently have problems.
In our program we trim one foot of each elephant every week, for
example we will trim the front right feet of all three elephants
in one week. We use hoof knifes, rasps and Swiss knifes to
accomplish this. It takes keepers anywhere from an hour to an
hour and a half to trim one foot. The elephants are all trained
to present their front and back feet for trims. With the
entire elephant staff able to do foot work
and understanding the importance of it, we are able to stay on top of foot care.
Most importantly, we are extremely fortunate to have Alan Roocroft, who is world
renowned for foot care, as our consultant. He is a wonderful asset to our
elephant program and a great teacher.
Behavioral Enrichment
Behavioral enrichment is the environmental enhancement of the lives of animals
by providing them with mental and physical stimulation to increase natural
behavior. Here at the Phoenix Zoo elephant sanctuary we apply this enrichment in
many different ways. Elephants in the wild will spend up to 20 hours every day
looking for their food. To simulate this foraging behavior, the keepers place
the elephant’s food inside of puzzle feeders like the ones shown. This allows
the elephants to spend more of their day foraging for food. The keepers also
like to modify the landscape of the exhibit to stimulate the elephants. This
includes constructing large piles of logs, planting grass, adding large piles of
dirt and sand, churning up the ground to make it softer and adding a clay
wallow. The keepers are continually challenged to come up with new ideas to
enrich the lives of the elephants.
Elephant Updates
Photo of the Month
As the temperatures continue to climb upward this summer, Reba starts looking for ways to cool off. This day she headed straight over to the clay wallow, and started applying the cool mud everywhere.
|
|
If you have any questions about the Phoenix Zoo’s Elephant Sanctuary program or anything relating to our elephants, please contact Heather Wright at hwright@thephxzoo.com.