I was volunteering in some research projects on semi-captive elephants. One study was investigating stress levels and self directed behaviours. The other was study involving hormone treatment.
We collected poo from the elephants to analyse and obviously we needed to know whose poo was whose!
Cold storage was limited. We often kept it in the freezer next to our own food 💩🌮
At least 100 elephants have died in Zimbabwe’s largest national park in recent weeks because of drought, a grisly sign of what wildlife authorities and conservation groups say is the impact of climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon, NBC News reports: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/100-elephants-die-drought-zimbabwe-park-rcna130416
Some good news coming out of Canada for #elephants and great apes! The Canadian government is introducing a bill to phase them out of captivity!
This means zoos and private owners would be banned from acquiring new ones or breeding existing ones.
Why is this a big deal? Elephants and great apes (which includes #chimpanzees, #gorillas, #orangutans, and #bonobos) are highly intelligent and social beings with complex natural habitats. Studies have shown that these animals suffer both physically and mentally in captivity, and often develop serious behavioural and health problems due to the stress of confinement.
There are around 30 great apes held in captivity in Canada and over 20 captive elephants. Many of these animals were captured from their homes in the wild before being caged for human entertainment.
Vegan Australia welcomes this news from Canada, and we hope this will inspire the Australian government, and Australian zoos, to embrace similar measures and end the exploitation of all animals. Currently Australia is keeping 27 elephants, and approximately 60 great apes in captivity.
In this weeks Pagan Community Notes, The Beaver Moon, The Troth is organizing an International Pagan Day of Prayer and Action for Peace, announcements, holiday events, announcements, and elephant babies.
TWH wants to know - what's your read of the Beaver or Mourning Moon? Let us know in the comments!
"Bill S-15, introduced in the Senate this week, would prohibit new captivity of elephants and great apes, including for breeding, without a licence that shows it is for conservation, science or the animal’s welfare."
"Several of its accredited zoos, including Zoo de Granby in Quebec, the Toronto Zoo and the Calgary Zoo, threw their support behind similar legislation that Klyne introduced as a private member’s bill in 2022."
Oh this is just wonderful. Read this and listen to Paul playing Claire de Lune to an 80 year old elephant and the world feels better #Piano#Elephants#Music
"Maintaining healthy populations of just nine key wild species (or groups of species) – including elephants and wolves, but also wildebeest, musk ox and bison, as well as marine fish, whales, sharks and sea otters – can play a vital role in controlling the carbon cycle on land and sea."
My walk yesterday was at the #KansasCityZoo to check out the new aquarium (more later), which also happened to be right by my favorite: the elephants! Love these beauties! 🐘 #Elephants#KansasCityZoo
Elephants that dropped dead in Zimbabwe were victims of an obscure bacteria combined with extreme heat. Scientists fear more elephants – and other species – could suffer the same fate
Wifey is playing Super Mario Wonder now, since last night, just kinda chilling and playing semi-slow. She's in world 2 and the game looks AWESOME. Definitely lots of co-op potential too, you can even play as different colored Yoshis or Nabbit (when you play as those, you don't get hurt unless you fall off a cliff, but you can't use powerups).
REALLY great looking game. Her theory is that it was originally a Kirby game and they skinned it Mario. It's very Kirby-like in some aspects. Which is never a bad thing!