Elephants return to Dublin Zoo

strassenwolf

A quick question for the board.

Ireland.com, breaking news section wrote:

Elephants to return to Dublin Zoo

Elephants will today make their first appearance at Dublin Zoo for almost two years when a spectacular rainforest enclosure is opened.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to unveil the sprawling Kaziranga Forest Trail habitat, which includes water pools and dense vegetation.

It will be home to the zoo's two new adult Asian elephants, Bernhardine and Yasmin, which have been in quarantine since arriving from Germany earlier this year.

A two-month-old baby born at the zoo in May has yet to be named. Elephants are among the most popular animals at the Phoenix Park attraction and are certain to boost visitor numbers in coming weeks.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0628/breaking32.htm

Am I right in thinking that these must be Indian elephants? African ones would tend to be in sub-saharan Africa, where vegetation is often not dense -in fact these animals are often considered to be the source of the legend that elephants have a great memory, because of the ability of a matriarch to lead a group to locations where there may be food and water.

It's really great news anyway. Along with the arrival of Beverly the young giraffe (with lots of neck:D ), it's sure to be a great summer in Dublin zoo. Fair play to them all.

Gregor Samsa

The article says "It will be home to the zoo's two new adult Asian elephants". The terms "Asian Elephant" and "Indian Elephant" are often used interchangeably in non-technical useage.

Indian elephants are the majority sub-species of Asian elephant, so they are most likely Indian.

arctictree

Is it not too cold here for elephants?? I mean its much hotter in india. Surley these guys must be cold over here!

Our man in Havana

arctictree wrote:

Is it not too cold here for elephants?? I mean its much hotter in india. Surley these guys must be cold over here!

They have come from Germany & were more than likely born in Europe - They will have a heated enclosure I would imagine for night time use.

Sigma Force

It's about time they had a decent enclosure for the elephants the old one was awful waaaaaay too small.

Leeby

Saw the elephants on Friday, the new space is great.
Didn't get to see the baby giraffe though, there was an adult giraffe closed off from the others though, so I presume he was in there with his mammy. The best are the baby red river hogs, always thought they were the best anyway but the babies are just beautiful!

Demonique

I looked at the link, definately Asian elephants, you can tell by their tiny ears.

Also, African elephants may not necessarily be creatures of the savannah, there are forest elephants in African rainforests, I think they are slightly smaller than their Savannah cousins, they sometimes share forest clearings with Lowland gorillas

Demonique

arctictree wrote:

Is it not too cold here for elephants?? I mean its much hotter in india. Surley these guys must be cold over here!

If they were reptiles, yes, but being animals they can generate their own body heat.
Apparently lions do well in cold weather, they tend to find the heat of the African sun a bit too much (especially the males with their heavy manes), so they do much of their hunting in the early morning and evening, snoozing during the day.