How to display elephants? Let a zoo without elephants tell you

In the wild, elephants have enough activity to keep their nails neat and tidy; but in captivity, due to insufficient activity and unsuitable floor mats, elephants need to have their nails trimmed manually , and the health of their foot pads must be closely monitored. Too long nails can cause elephants to stand abnormally, which can lead to chronic pain in their joints. Due to the huge weight of elephants, a "small problem" in their legs can easily endanger their lives.

Of course, it is not easy to make elephants happy to have a pedicure. If you are not experienced enough, you need to ask relevant experts for help. Today we are going to share how the Tennoji Zoo in Osaka, Japan displays elephants , which may give you a new understanding of "display".

The elephant shed without an elephant

How does Tennoji Zoo display elephants? They don't have any elephants .

Yes, visitors to Tennoji Zoo will definitely take a photo of this notice with their mobile phones:

The sign read in four languages: There are no elephants in Tennoji Zoo.

When the zoo's elderly female elephant, Bozi, passed away, there were no elephants left in the zoo. What else could they show?

This is what the elephant exhibit at Tennoji Zoo looks like.

The exhibition area simulates a place called "Chayan Mountain" National Park (transliteration), and there is a map of the park at the entrance. The khaki color is a circle of trails around the elephant house; there is a "Kuluwa" village in the lower right corner, where the elephants' inner house is located; the mountain in the middle is the elephant's playground .

There are a few points for those who enter the mountain on the side of the map:

① Elephants are around, please pay attention to safety;

② Be careful of poisonous snakes and scorpions;

③ Based on considerations for nature conservation, it is strictly prohibited to capture and collect animals and plants;

④ For the sake of a beautiful environment, please take the garbage away with you.

All human-related publicity and education in the zoo belongs to conservation education. Isn’t this “Notes” a good example? Entering the rice transplanting mountain, walking on the trail outside the exhibition area, there are traces of elephants on the road, and you will see many signs along the way:

"Elephants are around, please be careful."

Salt licks and an explanation for why elephants "eat dirt".

A tree used by elephants as a tickle tree.

What elephants look like in the wild.

The outdoor area of ​​the elephant house

Although the tourist trail surrounds the elephant playground, tourists cannot actually see the elephants 360 degrees without blind spots. In fact, the vegetation on the side of the trail near the elephant playground is dense, and tourists can only see the elephant playground through the gaps between the plants. There is also a large area of ​​water between the playground and the trail. These designs can reduce the pressure on elephants .

The vegetation also provides a habitat for urban wildlife.

For example, turtledove.

The grass is still growing, the water is still flowing, but Hiroko is no longer here. Or it should be said the other way around: even though Hiroko is no longer here, the grass is still growing, the water is still flowing .

There is an electric fence on the rocks in the distance, and behind the plants beyond is the road we just walked along.

Going further, there is a shed for visiting. Instead of using a whole wall of glass, small pieces are used. I think this may also be to reduce the pressure on the elephants - so that you can see it but it can't see you.

Because Hiroko is no longer with us, a photo of her is posted next to the display window of the shed.

Inside the shed, there is a comparison of the current forest area and the world population, as well as a carbon dioxide concentration meter and a simple popular science about the relationship between carbon dioxide and global warming. I personally think that these two display boards are only half done. Can you add some more introductions such as "the relationship between the reduction of forest area and elephants" and "the impact of global warming on elephants"?

Existing shed science display board.

Indoor arena of the elephant house

Go further and you will reach Kuruwa Village. Because it is a "village", there are "people" here.

Some of the places where Asian elephants live are very close to farmland. In order to protect crops, locals will build a small wooden house, which is equivalent to a lookout tower. When the person in charge of guarding sees an elephant coming, he will beat a gong to notify the villagers, and then fire a gun to scare the elephant away.

It's just such a small house.

It is hard to say how useful lookout and warning are, but what is demonstrated here is the existence of conflict between humans and animals , and people's attempts to avoid conflict without harming animals.

The view before entering the indoor exhibition area.

Next we entered the indoor arena. On an inconspicuous wall, there was a piece of paper with the 2016 annual report of the Northeast India Asian Elephant Conservation Project . The organization that carried out this project was the Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF), which is a very magical organization:

There are four main tasks in this project.

① Relocation of a village in the elephant corridor. The relocation has been completed. The new village has electricity, new (better than the original) places and facilities, and provides villagers with new means of livelihood (textile training). An elephant-proof barrier was built outside the village. Traces of elephants have been found on the old site of this village.

② Increase prevention and control of human-elephant conflicts around farmland.

③ Rescue the injured elephant.

④ Close the ivory market.

There are many photos and other exhibits hanging on one side of the indoor exhibition area.

This is the last image of Haruko and Hiroko. Hiroko is unable to stand and is holding onto the railing with her nose.

A fan-drawn Bozi.

A message from the breeder to Hiroko.

The black arrow on the column is Hiroko's height.

Actually, when I was visiting, I didn’t follow the tour route. I went indoors first. At that time, I thought this elephant house was just so-so, and I thought the so-called “feelings” and “warmth” were obviously exaggerated, until I saw these photos :

All I feel is envy.

Display, a lot of knowledge

Asian elephants are large and strong, and have a high level of cognition and good memory, so this needs to be taken into consideration in the design of the venue. The entire elephant house renovation took about 8 years from design to completion. We conducted field investigations, referred to the experience of Thailand and India, learned from the experience of elephant houses in 8 zoos in Japan and 6 zoos abroad, considered the feeding methods of raising elephants together or separately, referred to the opinions of veterinarians, breeders and other experts, and even considered the characteristics of the elephants raised by Tennoji Zoo at the time, such as their age. It was finally completed and won the 2005 CLA Award for Excellence in the Design Department.

The conscience of a zoo does not lie in whether they have a certain animal or whether they will introduce another animal, but whether they treat the animal well when they have it.

I think this is a good display, even without the elephants it would still be a good display .

I really like what Dr. Zhang Jinshuo said when commenting on my WeChat Moments photos: Zoos are also museums in a broad sense. When one day animals no longer live in cages, zoos will be real museums.

Hiroko has gone, but the treasures she left behind may help more elephants living in zoos and help those who accompany elephants. I think that if there is still an elephant living in a zoo in the world, it should live in a cage like this .

Author of this article: M2's Golden Egg