by Sophie Daws
Nandi, Reid Park Zoo’s young African elephant, wades into a pool in her habitat, wraps her trunk around to her back and hoses herself off. Doused with cool water, her back glistens under the Tucson sun.
The 98,000-gallon pool where Nandi plays re-creates a waterhole that she and the zoo’s four other African elephants would have frequented in their native Tanzania. Called Expedition Tanzania, the zoo habitat mimics the elephants’ native environment. In this way, Tucson — though far from Africa — may feel a little more like home.
The elephants are acclimated to Tucson’s climate because it’s similar to Tanzania’s. This is true for other animals as well. “Most of the zoo’s animals are from regions similar to Tucson,” said Reid Park Zoo director Jason Jacobs.
Most zoos worldwide try to obtain animals from places with a similar climate. Zoos in Chicago and other northern U.S. cities, for instance, house species like Siberian tigers, while zoos in hot areas, such as Tucson, have Sumatran tigers.
Cooling off
In the Expedition Tanzania habitat a 3-foot-wide stream flows into the pool. Edging the stream are wiry, yellowish savanna grasses. Along the stream bank, covered in mud, stands Punga, an adolescent male. In the pool an adult female named Semba sprays herself with water. Punga wades into the pool. The two elephants lock trunks and spray each another.
In addition to the pool, the elephant habitat contains mud wallows. Elephants in the wild use mud wallows to regulate their body temperature, said Dr. Sue Tygielski, the zoo’s general curator. As the mud dries on their skin, their overall body temperature cools. Elephants also use mud as a sunscreen to protect their skin against Tucson’s relentless sun. In addition, the herd can seek refuge from the sun under large canvas shade structures.
A channel that runs through the habitat creates a cool draft, especially in the evening. The elephants like to stand on the edge of the channel or even venture into it to experience the natural air-conditioning.
A warm house on a cold night
On winter nights Tucson’s temperatures sometimes dip below freezing. The lowest temperature that elephants experience in Tanzania is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of this range in temperatures, exhibit designers “must build two exhibits for every one habitat,” said zoo architect Ace Torre of Torre Design Consortium. One exhibit is outside and viewable by the public. The second is indoors and temperature-controlled.
On cold nights the elephants can retire to their snug night house. Zookeepers flip a switch, and the central heat turns on. Heating pads in the floor and heaters in the ceiling warm the elephants’ stalls. For extra warmth, keepers pile sand in the stalls to make comfortable beds for the elephants.
Room to roam
Building a home for elephants is no small business. Wild elephants can roam many miles each day for food and water. The 7-acre Expedition Tanzania habitat gives Reid Park Zoo elephants a choice of habitats. “They have lots of variety in the habitat in that they have multiple mud wallows, multiple sleeping hills,” Tygielski said. “If they want to be in the shade or the sun, they can choose which hill.”
Space also gives the elephants social choice. At times, they bond as a herd, but sometimes they prefer to be alone. “Certain elephants will interact and not want a third or fourth elephant with them, and so there has to be enough space in the habitat that the other can get away if needed,” Tygielski said.
There is a hard truth about zoos: Habitats can’t offer the same experiences for animals that they would have living in the wild. But zoos do what they can to protect elephants from the poaching and habitat loss that threaten their survival in Africa. By creating a small slice of Africa in Arizona, Reid Park Zoo is trying to ensure that the largest land mammals on Earth survive. “It’s better to have some elephants rather than none,” director Jacobs said.
