Cincinnati Zoo Elephants Get First Peek at New Habitat in Adorable Video
Yesterday, the small herd of elephants at the Cincinnati zoo got their first peek at their massive new enclosure, Elephant Trek, which will be open next fall. The five-acre exhibit will include plenty of space for the elephants to roam, as well as water features and other amenities, all in a state-of-the-art, environmentally-friendly development. But the Asian elephants—Yasmin (aka SheRa), Anak, Sanjay, and Kabir—who got to check out the space yesterday probably don’t know all that. They’re just in it for the swim.
In the clip, you can see the elephants exploring their new space, checking out the trees, the grounds, and even taking a swim. The new water feature, fed by stormwater catchments running underneath the exhibit, is deep enough for the creatures to fully submerge themselves in the water and get a reprieve from summer heat. It’s truly amusing to watch a creature as big as an elephant take a step into the deep end of their own pool.
Cincinnati Zoo Elephants
The elephants in this video are actually the newest arrival at the Cincinnati Zoo—they are two female elephants and their two young, male calves. They arrive at the facility from a zoo in Dublin only last fall, and so are experiencing their first Ohio summer. Later this summer, they plan to reintroduce an adult male bull elephant, Sabu, who has been on loan at a zoo in Columbus, as well as three more females, one of whom is actually related to the Irish herd. Schottzie, SheRa’s aunt, as well as two other female elephants (Mai Thai, and Jati) currently being housed in another part of the zoo, will form the complete herd.
It is the zoo’s hope that the large new exhibit will be a happy home for this intergenerational group of animals.
Elephant Care in Zoos
Proper housing for elephants in zoos and other exhibits across North America is currently a matter of great concern to wildlife biologists and elephant researchers, which is why there has been such a huge push to upgrade the habitats of the elephants at zoos all over the nation, and to move elephants to zoos where the living conditions are better for them.
The ecologically friendly exhibit will be LEED certified, with solar panels providing much of the power, and a water filtration system to capture and return stormwater to the million-gallon tank beneath the exhibit that will feed the area’s many water features, including a waterfall.
“We’re working to promote coexistence, especially in areas where Cincinnati Zoo animals’ wild counterparts live,” said Dr. Lily Maynard, the zoo’s director of global conservation. “As Elephant Trek opening approaches later this year, we’re advancing our active involvement in Asian elephant conservation efforts to ensure they thrive in the wild as much as they do in our care here.”
Though the main event is of course the zoo’s growing herd of elephants, the exhibit will be home to several other Asian species of animal, including clawed otters and siamangs.
But as they wait to see the completion of the large new exhibit, it’s great that the two mama elephants and their growing calves got a chance to explore their new home.
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