A zoologist Cheryl Meehan was very surprised when she found preferences of the elephants in the zoo. Animals prefer to socialize each other, while the size of their living space is not too important for them. Earlier, the scientists believed that more space is better and necessary, especially for those big animals. The study on zoo life’s preferences of the elephants published in the journal PLoS ONE.
The zoologists are debating many years on the necessity of limited space in zoos, is the big space is actually afflicting the animals, is still a question. Such a giants like elephants are not only huge animals but intelligent ones. In a small enclosure space, these gentle and smart animal is inclined to become obese, that may lead to shortening the live and infertility, scientists say.
The latest zoo life’s study led by Cheryl Meehan showed, however, that elephants like to socialize, moreover, the conversation is their priority, not a space in the zoo. In her study, Meehan used data from more than two dozen experts, who collected information on 255 elephants in 68 North American zoos.
Scientists calculated an optimal enclosure space for the elephants — it varies from 7,700 square feet to 347,000 square feet. But this data is only one aspect of the elephant’s health. The socializing is very important too, says the study. The most communicable are the elephants from African and Asian regions. They prefer to talk each other all the time, so, the size of their enclosure space is not so important.
