The elephant rush

[Doug Kerr]

A daily feature at the San Diego Wild Animal Park is the Elephant Rush. About 10:30 am, a number of elephants are sent into a big exercise yard at the elephant facility, which is located at the top of a long sloping "meadow". The staff puts bundles of fresh hay around the meadow, and also buries various goodies (vegetables, playthings, and so forth) in mounds of dirt.

At 11:00 am. a gate between the exercise yard and the meadow opens, and the elephants stream out into the meadow in search of snacks, treats, and playthings.

Here we see this fascinating event:

Douglas A. Kerr: The Elephant Rush​

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Doug,

That's a beautiful site and a warm story. I hope you will give us more of these stories and pictures too.

There's another side to this. The idea that we are providing entertainment to these creatures is quite satisfying and makes one feel impressed with the San Diego Zoo. However, as we learn more about the family life and community of elephants, we must also wonder whether we are just allowing some minimal diversion from, what to them might be an unbearable captivity. I'm not claiming they are suffering and not having fun. Rather we should ask ourselves fundamental questions about the resources made available to these impressive animals we choose to have on show for our entertainment. I suspect the quarters are likely rather cramped and that alone would make little outings a brief respite for them.

A daily feature at the San Diego Wild Animal Park is the Elephant Rush. About 10:30 am, a number of elephants are sent into a big exercise yard at the elephant facility, which is located at the top of a long sloping "meadow". The staff puts bundles of fresh hay around the meadow, and also buries various goodies (vegetables, playthings, and so forth) in mounds of dirt.

At 11:00 am. a gate between the exercise yard and the meadow opens, and the elephants stream out into the meadow in search of snacks, treats, and playthings.

Here we see this fascinating event:

Douglas A. Kerr: The Elephant Rush​

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Douglas A. Kerr: The Elephant Rush​

Doug,

Let me return as address the picture. The line of elephants is something beautiful. I'm glad you shared it with us. I don't want my social questions of our behavior to distract from the regal splendor your picture shows. We're always enthralled by good bonds n families and elephants are no exception. This is really something beautiful for our own families to see. One can learn a lot from these massive but essentially gentle animals. Very loyal, long memories and devoted to their family and community.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Douglas A. Kerr: The Elephant Rush​

The line of elephants is something beautiful. I'm glad you shared it with us. I don't want my social questions of our behavior to distract from the regal splendor your picture shows. We're always enthralled by good bonds n families and elephants are no exception. This is really something beautiful for our own families to see. One can learn a lot from these massive but essentially gentle animals. Very loyal, long memories and devoted to their family and community.

Their breeding program here has been very successful, with four young born just this year (all can be seen in the picture, along with two siblings from last year). The youngest is only two months old.

Here we see the youngest taking a little drink from Mama about a half hour before heading down into the meadow:

Douglas A. Kerr: Late morning snack​

He weighed 220 lbs at birth!

The young elephants have a lot of fun in the exercise yard:

Douglas A. Kerr: Dogpile!​

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Eric Diller]

Very nice captures...skin texture look nice on the Elephants! At least the have some room to roam..........