A new elephant home, a new zoo centerpiece
Th e P l a i n D e a l e r
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s $25 million African Elephant Crossing does more than provide a spiffy and comfortable new home for the zoo’s herd of African elephants. The new habitat is carefully designed to keep the elephants
physically fit and healthy by keeping them moving around in a spacious, varied environment — while at the same time giving zoo patrons a closer look at these magnificent animals than they’ll get at almost any other zoo.
How big is big?
Crossing gate
The elephant habitat takes its name from this focal point.
Elephants will be free — indeed, encouraged — to cross
between the Mopani and Savanna Ranges through this
gate structure. As they do, heavy gates will close, keeping
patrons at least 15 feet back from the animals as they
pass through.
Patrons inside the African Village area will be stranded
there during these interludes. But in exchange, they just
may get the closest look they’ve ever had at an African
elephant.
zoo officials hope that this everyday demonstration of
humans and elephants sharing carefully managed spaces
— with the implication that it can also happen in the wild
— will stand as the basic theme of their new exhibit.
Northern
Trek
Cleveland
Map area
Crossing
gate
That’s the equivalent of about 65 people.
The average human consumes about
7 3/4 pounds of food on a typical day.
M
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Australian
Primate, Adventure
Cat &
Aquatics
A f r i c a n
One way zoo officials are trying to make life interesting for
the elephants is by burying a large boulder of salt on the
Savanna Range. Elephants dig for this mineral in the wild,
and it’s hoped they’ll do it here too.
A full-grown elephant will put away about
300 pounds.
And while we might drink
8 glasses of water a day …
IN
G
By using these needs to keep their
elephants on the move, Cleveland’s
keepers hope their five-acre habitat can
approximate an elephant’s natural range.
… with constraints.
Educational
displays
‘Target training’
Sydell L. Miller Elephant Care and Visitor Center
Elephants will typically down 50 gallons —
the equivalent of 800 glasses.
These aren’t circus elephants, but they still are carefully and rigorously
trained to perform certain actions. Training stimulates the elephants’
brains, keeps them fit and builds trust between them and their
keepers. The Cleveland Metroparks zoo
employs a technique called “target
Veterinarian
Ve
training.”
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Safe
Railing
Patrons will be able to stand at the railings overlooking
the “parlour” area and watch elephant handlers and
veterinarians work with the animals from close proximity.
A bold, red line drawn on the floor of the enclosure area
marks how far an elephant typically can reach with its
trunk; zoo personnel will cross the line only when
necessary.
The Elephant Care and Visitor Center will make it easy for
veterinarians to pay close attention to the elephants’
health and give care where needed.
A heavy-duty scale is one innovation that will help: One
major clue to the state of an elephant’s health is its
weight and how that changes day to day.
Elephant
“parlours”
Scale
The
trainer
directs
the
elephant
with a
ball on
the end
of a long
stick …
Heated area
Sleeping under the stars
Another unusual feature — and big improvement for the
elephants — is the Night Range. Elephants will be free to
walk out into this enclosed, private area anytime they
want during the night and even sleep here.
The range includes huge heaps of sand for the elephants
to arrange to their liking, heated concrete pads and some
radiant heat.
The Plain Dealer has a gallery of
photos of the new Elephant
Crossing at
tinyurl.com/pdphotoblog
N i g h t
… and combines
that touch with
verbal
commands to
get the
elephant, for
example, to
present its foot for a
medical inspection.
Barrier
wall
R a n g e
The barrier fences that ring the Elephant
Crossing’s ranges do not underestimate
the strength of the animals they’re
designed to restrain.
The ranges are ringed with
tough steel-and-concrete
posts threaded together
with high-tensile-strength,
Steel
woven-steel cables. The
post
fence is designed to
withstand the strain of two
full-grown elephants
shoving each other into it.
The cables can also
carry an electric charge.
And trees within the
compound are equipped
with “hot vines” that can
jolt an elephant who might
Concrete
crash into the tree.
Obviously, zookeepers do
not want to shock their
elephants. They are relying
on these intelligent
Cables
animals to learn quickly
that it’s a good idea to
avoid the fence.
The keepers also practice what’s known as “protective contact.” They interact closely with the animals
— but behind the safety of heavy barriers designed to deflect trunks and tusks.
The eight most important moving parts in the exhibit are full-time elephant keepers Mitch Zverina, Meghan
Sharp, Dave Winkler, Calvin Harpe, June Madamba, James Casteel, Rick Moxley and Mike Zinte.
Meet the residents
African birds
Nine species will inhabit
the aviary:
■ Black-cheeked
lovebird
Crake
■ Green woodhopoe
■ Kenya crested
guineafowl
■ Lady Ross’s turaco
■ Speckled pigeon
■ Taveta golden
weaver (shown)
■ Violet-backed
starling
■ White-headed
buffalo-weaver
■ Black
Born: 1976, Cape Provence, Africa
Weight: 8,065 lbs.
RK
Elephant Crossing:
5 acres
The Elephant Crossing’s ranges lie on an east-west slope,
and designers have built more ramps and slopes into the
habitat.
Rather than simply feeding the elephants, zookeepers will
place food strategically around the ranges — in corners,
behind trees, in elevated baskets — so the elephants have
to find it.
Encouraging the elephants to forage for food in this way
will approximate conditions in the wild, where elephants
may walk for miles in search of their next meal.
The exercise of figuring out where zookeepers have put
the food will also serve to stimulate the elephants’ large,
complex brains.
Lecture/meeting area
PA
Old elephant
habitat:
about
1 1/4 acres
If you can find it, you can eat it
V i l l a g e
Rain Forest
The elephants’ new digs greatly expand
the room they have to walk around. And
elephants definitely do a lot of walking.
But they’re not doing it for fun. When
elephants in the wild walk long distances,
they’re searching for food and water.
Pass the salt
Aviary
500 feet
Room to move …
e
Food and
gift shops
Meerkat
enclosure
Moshi
Entrance gate
CLEVELAND
M E T R O PA R K S
ZOO
Water pool
(One of two)
S a
v a
n
e.
D enison Av
African
Elephant Crossing
Fulton
Parkway
Willy, the zoo’s newest addition, is an
adult bull elephant weighing about
13,300 pounds.
CLEVELAND
Sarah Allison
Steffee Center
(animal
hospital)
.
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Pea
rl R
d
Ja m e s E w i n g e r a n d Wi l l i a m N e f f
Martika
Born: 1985, Zimbabwe
Weight: 8,045 lbs.
You’ll recognize Moshi by her short tail — she lost part of it in
a tussle with another elephant before she came to Cleveland.
Martika has the unusual habit of tucking hay between her left
tusk and trunk; she’s hoarding it for a later snack.
Meerkats
Suricata suricatta
Range: Southern African deserts
A very sociable relative of the
mongoose. The zoo currently
has two of them.
Naked mole rats
Heterocephalus glaber
Range: Deserts of Kenya, Ethiopia
and Somalia in Africa
These strange rodents have an
almost hivelike social structure,
with a queen, breeding males
and workers.
African rock python
Python sabae
Range: Southern African grasslands and savanna
They’re not venomous, but they
are huge and famously
bad-tempered.
Jo
Shenga
Willy
Big, confident and the oldest of the zoo’s elephants, Jo is the
current matriarch of the herd — although zookeepers say Shenga
appears to want the job.
The tallest female in the herd,
recognizable by her curved tail,
a pronounced hump on her back
and very rough skin. zookeepers
call her smart and social.
The most recent addition to
the herd, arriving from Disney’s
Animal Kingdom in Orlando.
Also far and away the largest
animal in the entire zoo.
Born: 1967, Mozambique
Weight: 8,065 lbs.
Born: 1982, Zimbabwe
Weight: About 7,900 lbs.
Born: 1979, Zimbabwe
Weight: 13,300 lbs.
Buried
at least
6 feet