Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

uilding a new enclosure that will be ready by the end of 2004. A further
collection does not comply for its females.
One collection did not comply with the guidelines for an outside enclosure of
a minimum of 500 m² for males, but it has been noted that the area they have
given is for a bullpen that is only used on its own in emergencies. Otherwise
all collections complied with the minimum guidelines for outdoor enclosure
size for females and bulls (where relevant). The smaller enclosures were those
that did not have a bull. Please note that the results of measurements for the
outdoor bull enclosure are not clear, as some collections gave only results for a
‘bull pen’ whilst others only gave the size of the paddock that included the
females.
All collections comply with the guidelines that there must be at least two
members of staff present when working with the elephants. Three collections
(21%) did not have written training protocols for staff. All collections bar one
have specific risk assessments for working with elephants. Of those that did,
eight had a risk assessment for each elephant but only five had one for each
elephant/elephant keeper. It is very clear that elephant profiles need further
investigating.
Four collections do not use free contact management with their females at all,
using either zero or protected contact, or a mixture of the two. The others are
on a scale between free and protected contact and it varies from animal to
animal. All males over the age of 8-10 are in protected or restricted contact
except for one. Males under this age are with the matriarchal herd or
undergoing training for protected contact.
There are currently five collections that posses an electric goad for use in
emergency or life threatening situations, and a further one is thinking about it.
Sixty percent of collections put their animals on chains regularly for no longer
than three hours a day, most for less than an hour. This was mainly in the
morning while routine husbandry and management was carried out.
The Asian elephant population began breeding in 1975 and the current
population ranges from 3 to 47. The median age of females is 21, and for males
is 10. It is an older population than the Africans and has more problems. Older
nulliparous females tend to show reproductive problems, as do nonnulliparous
females which have not bred for some years. There is a relatively
high (in comparison to the African population) incidence of stillbirths and the
rate of infanticide with first calves. Both are currently being investigated. It
has been shown (though with a very small sample size) that reproductive
success increases with parity. Social bonding in Asians is more complex than
in Africans which makes the movement of animals between herds more
difficult.
The African elephant population started breeding in 1971 but most
significantly since 1984. It is a younger population than the Asians, with the
eldest female aged 37 and male aged 19. The median age for females is 20, and
for males is 8. Given it is smaller, the African population is showing a trend to
be self-sustaining and does not seem to have the problems associated with
breeding that have been seen in the Asian population. Africans appear to be
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