Asian Elephant

Asian Elephant

Scientific name: Elephas maximus
In the wild: Endangered species
Jerusalem zoo: 4 females, 1 bull, 1 male calf
In the bible: partially mantioned in the bible

Asian elephants, also known as Indian elephants are distributed in Southeast Asia: India, Thailand, Nepal, Burma, and their neighbors. In general, the Elephants are the largest land mammal. Although the Asian elephants are smaller than the African species, they can still reach an impressive size, weighing up to 5000 kg and reaching three feet in height. Asian elephants differ from their African relatives in some other characteristics: smaller ears, the highest part of the body is the shoulders and not the head, and at the end of the trunk they have one tentacle and not two.
For thousands of years, Asian elephant have worked for humans, who used them for labor and transportation, especially in the timber industry in South-east Asia. This tradition is still observed in some areas. Previously, they were used even in wars and many historic discriptions include Elephants such as the one about Lazarus who died in heroic battle after he killed an elephant. Modern laws have since then restricted and banned the use of Elephants in the industrial trade, as many governments in South East Asia are trying to control deforestation within their borders, an act that has in itself decreased the need for elephants as a labor force. Many of these elephants were "unemployed" and most of them were referred to the developing tourism industry.
All of these acts, controlled by human interference with natures' course caused the situation of the Asian elephants to be far from good. Their habitats were drastically reduced, forcing them to share the same areas as those of the human inhabitants. Some "unemployed" elephants became owned by private people, and were again forced to be used as labor force. After "retirement" they become a burden on their owners. In Asia, elephants cannot be release back into the wild because the amount of non-inhabited land is not great and not continuous. Elephants migrate considerable distances in search of food, and while in progress leave considerable damage to natural vegetation and agricultural areas, which trailer unwanted friction with local residents. Currently, there are some forty thousand and captive and natural Asian elephants in the world, threatened due to destruction of their natural habitats and human abuse.
Historically, Elephants have always been a major attraction. But very few zoos managed to provide the proper conditions for keeping Elephants in captivity. Most chose to exploit the natural reservoir of captive elephants rather than breeding them in captivity. Today, great efforts are being done to solve the problem of Elephant husbandry with more research and sharing of knowledge between zoos.

Elephant husbandry methods in Zoos:
There are different methods of husbandry of the Asian Elephants in zoo around the world and at the different elephant conservation centers:
Direct contact - No separation between elephants and keepers. This method has great advantages for elephant welfare, but, because of the proximity of the large elephants to the keepers, the risks to the keepers are relatively high. Here at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo we work with the direct contact method.
Protected contact - All work with the elephants is done from behind bars. This method keeps the keepers better protected, but work with elephants is more limited.
No contact - No contact between elephants and keepers. This method offers maximum safety to the keepers and is cheaper to implement, but it compromises elephant welfare. Most check-ups and treatments need to be conducted under anesthesia, which is extremely risky.
The Three Asian elephants at the Zoo, came to Jerusalem from Thailand - "Tamar", "Susanne", and "Michaela ".are kept working with a special technique known as the free contact method.This is the traditional method used by Elephant keepers in Thailand. For this purpose, two "Mahouts" (Elephant keepers) were brought in from Thailand in order to share their knowledge.
The female group was joined by "Teddy", our Male who came to the Jerusalem from the Safari in Ramat - Gan.

The Elephant group is routinely trained by the free contact method, allowing for a high quality of life and preservation of the health of these special animals. The elephants receive routine foot care and walk the zoo grounds regularly to maintain their physical fitness. Since Elephants are particularly intelligent animals, they need lots of stimulation. This training method also allowed us to proceed with artificial insemination when "Teddy" the male Elephant was too young to breed.
"Gabi", son of "Tamar" was born after a successful artificial insemination procedure in 1996. The process was complex and expensive, and the Biblical Zoo staff was aided by the help of European experts. After four attempts, the received semen, flown in from England and was donated by the a bull Elephant named "Emet" from Whipsnade Zoo in England was successfully planted, After 22 months of pregnancy, "Gabi" was born, weighing a healthy 100 kg. at the end of 2010, much adored "Gabi" was transferred to Gaziantep Zoo in Turkey at the end of 2010, as part of the Worldwide Asian elephant conservation program. .

You are invited to an unusual encounter with an elephant and even a whole group of elephants, here at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

Why does Teddy the bull elephant have a house of his own? Teddy arrived at the Jerusalem Zoo when he was 5 years old. He was trained by the staff of the Elephant Section at the Zoo and spent his first few years together with the females. However, as he matured, Teddy’s behavior, like that of all bull elephants, turned unpredictable and could be aggressive. This risks the keepers and therefore Teddy has been moved to his new house. Here, we still work with Teddy, but not with the Direct Contact method, which is used with the females, but with the Protected Contact method, in which bars separate Teddy from the keepers. Despite the bars, the keepers can still wash Teddy, check him and treat him if needed.

From the bible: “Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold” Chronicles 2: 9, 17


(Photo: Ruthie Shuler)