You can have a unique experience with an elephant at 72 AZA-accredited zoos. Visit any of these AZA-accredited zoos today to learn more about elephants, how the zoo is contributing to conservation and what you can do to help.
People Also Ask
Around 393 elephants are currently imprisoned in North American zoos, circuses, and private properties, including those kidnapped from the wild or born in captivity. Some elephants have been held in solitary confinement, without any other elephants to keep them company, for decades.
The Maryland Zoo has a long history of caring for African elephants, and we are strongly committed to their survival in the wild. African elephants are threatened by poaching for their ivory tusks, as well as loss of their habitat and conflict with humans in many areas of their range.
North Carolina Zoo staff describes Artie as “the most talkative of the elephants at the zoo – he chortles often, especially for breakfast!” Artie has lived at the zoo since 2007, he weighs 13,900 pounds and is 11 feet tall, and is a favorite among his keepers and zoo visitors.
After 75 years of housing elephants of all kinds — African elephants, Asian elephants — in 2010 the zoo staff moved its last female African elephant resident, Joyce, from the zoo's Pachyderm House to a California facility where she has lots of room to roam and spend time with companions, which are essential to a ...
Broadly, some elephant experts say urban zoos simply don't have the space that African elephants, who roam extensive distances in the wild to forage for hundreds of pounds of vegetation each day, need for a normal life.
Our two Asian elephants Jothi (age 36) and Surapa (age 35) will be moving to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, La this Fall. The Buffalo Zoo made the decision because we have a responsibility to make sure all of our animals receive the best quality of care, especially as they age.
Our elephant habitats spread out over six acres, divided into two main yards, and providing all the elephants with opportunities for social interaction and with inviting space. With eight African elephants, there's always something happening here!
The Philadelphia Zoo's two female African elephants have traded their cramped West Philadelphia home for new digs at a sprawling southwestern Pennsylvania sanctuary run by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.
Say goodbye to Nashville's elephants, at least temporarily. The Nashville Zoo is relocating three elephants in order to renovate and build a new facility for its African expansion. We place the highest priority on the well-being of each animal in our care, zoo president Rick Schwartz said in a media release.
It wasn't natural for Winky and Wanda to endure the frigid Michigan winters at the zoo. Despite the zoo's best efforts, both elephants suffered from arthritis. They needed freedom. In 2005, after over a decade of living at the zoo, The Detroit Zoo let Winky and Wanda go.
Anything remaining will be cremated, including even the tiniest of animals. “Everything from guppies to elephants is incinerated,” says Neiffer. While burials were once commonplace at zoos, very few bury their animals anymore.
Elephants in circuses and roadside zoos are denied everything that gives their life meaning. Many become neurotic, unhealthy, depressed, and aggressive as a result of the inhumane conditions in which they're kept.
Wild and Long-LivedThe findings show that captive elephants live considerably shorter lives. For African elephants, the median life span is 17 years for zoo-born females, compared to 56 years in the Amboseli National Park population.
There are no elephants at this zoo. You won't find elephants in as many zoos nowadays as there were when we were kids. And while this zoo is huge, you won't find this huge animal in its residence. (You can find them at Indianapolis or Saint Louis if that's what you're really looking for.)