Elephant Habitat
Habitat for Elephants After observing the giraffe exhibit, my partner Nan Chen and I decided to make our way to observe the Janice Suber McNair Asian Elephant Habitat which was built in 2008; an exhibit, home to seven different elephants, both young and old. The exhibit is home to adult bull Thai, adult cows Methai, Shanti, and Tess, juvenile bull Tucker (Tess' son), and calves Baylor (Shanti's son) and Tupelo (Tess' daughter).
Janice Suber McNair Asian Elephant Habitat exhibit covers an enormous three acres, provides many amenities to its residents; the elephants. THE amenities include an eighty thousand gallon pool as well as a seven thousand square foot elephant barn where the elephants are given daily public baths. I think that the zoo management has done a really spectacular job in bringing some elephant cultural behavior to the zoo. According to the Houston Zoo, “Since adult males and females live apart in the wild, you’ll see the same living arrangement here at the Zoo: our females are in one yard with their calves, while our older male, Thai, and younger Tucker enjoy space to themselves”. Also the landscaping of trees, natural grasses and varied elevated terrain create a wonderful environment for the elephants and the open design and viewing areas provide an enhanced guest experience as well.
We were also lucky to observe the elephants get bathed in the barn where a Houston local news anchor also happened to be there. We first observed the oldest elephant Thai get bathed and he quite enjoyed it. He was also used to the bathing procedure as he knew how to turn as well as which foot to lift to wash. During this process we got to view the elephants bathe. The zoo keepers scrubbed off the elephant with soap as well as water. All of the elephants were confined into separate caged cabins, and the elephants were getting bathed one at a time. The elephant in the first cage was bathed first, I believe his name was Thai and I believe behind him were Tess and
Janice Suber McNair Asian Elephant Habitat exhibit covers an enormous three acres, provides many amenities to its residents; the elephants. THE amenities include an eighty thousand gallon pool as well as a seven thousand square foot elephant barn where the elephants are given daily public baths. I think that the zoo management has done a really spectacular job in bringing some elephant cultural behavior to the zoo. According to the Houston Zoo, “Since adult males and females live apart in the wild, you’ll see the same living arrangement here at the Zoo: our females are in one yard with their calves, while our older male, Thai, and younger Tucker enjoy space to themselves”. Also the landscaping of trees, natural grasses and varied elevated terrain create a wonderful environment for the elephants and the open design and viewing areas provide an enhanced guest experience as well.
We were also lucky to observe the elephants get bathed in the barn where a Houston local news anchor also happened to be there. We first observed the oldest elephant Thai get bathed and he quite enjoyed it. He was also used to the bathing procedure as he knew how to turn as well as which foot to lift to wash. During this process we got to view the elephants bathe. The zoo keepers scrubbed off the elephant with soap as well as water. All of the elephants were confined into separate caged cabins, and the elephants were getting bathed one at a time. The elephant in the first cage was bathed first, I believe his name was Thai and I believe behind him were Tess and