Elephants, if you didn't know, are incredible creatures. They can be found naturally all across the climates of Asia - from the base of the Himalayan mountains to the island of Borneo!
The Asian elephant facilities at the Denver Zoo work to give them the most space regardless of the weather - 20s and snow or 90s and sunny! What's fun, is during rainstorms, the zoo's three bull elephants like to play in the pool.
The zoo has a pair of younger elephants and one guy in his late 40s - Groucho. The pair of younger bulls get along really well, which makes elephant keepers Jeff Stanton pretty happy.
But it IS true - elephants really do like to go for a swim in the rain. Especially the younger ones - Stanton came outside one day in a drizzle to find them playing around; dunking each other, riding on each other's backs - things like that.
Though it's not always a game of Marco Polo: on 30-degree days, the let the elephants choose if they'd rather stay indoors or run around outside.
Since the main behavior of an elephant is to forage for food - they need A LOT of food - the zoo makes sure that's one of the main parts of their enrichment. They forage for about 18 hours a day! And don't sleep all that much, Stanton says.
He also says if the temperature is way below 30 - like really cold - keepers make sure to secure the animals inside.
Being able to live at temperatures from the coldest to the warmest means these big beasts are really good at regulating their body temperature. Their large ears, Stanton says, can be used to fan themselves. They also use dust and mud - tossing it onto their backs with their incredible trunks - to protect them from the sun and even act as a blanket in the winter.
If it gets way too hot, their indoor enclosure is outfitted with air conditioning so they can be comfortable, Stanton says.
Photos: Majestic elephants at the Denver Zoo
HELPFUL LINKS | Asian Elephant fact sheet
Other tidbits:
- Elephants really do have amazing memories! They could remember you for years.
- The zoo uses operant conditioning on the elephants with positive reinforcement only! They have control of whether or not they want to do something. If they do, they get a treat. It's that simple!
- When you see trainers 'play' with the elephants - getting them to put their trunk on their head or lift up their leg - it's not actually for show. When they lift their leg it's so keepers can check their toes - when they lift their trunk it's so handlers can do a mouth check.
- Did you know? Lady elephants don't have the tusks you see on the males - they've got little "tushes" inside their mouths.
- That trunk of theirs? It's both a nose and a lip! And super muscular.
