Daisy is a female Asian elephant (The largest elephant), born in 1977. Daisy's first records are from the Berlin Circus Union. At approximately 22 years old, she was sent to the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium. When she turned 29, she was relocated to the Maubeuge Zoo in France. However, it wasn't until she turned 37, in March 2014, that she left the French zoo to settle at Safari Mallorca.
Since arriving in Mallorca, Daisy shared an enclosure with another elephant named Dina, but when she passed away in 2019, an alternative was found for Daisy. Currently, she shares an enclosure with a donkey (Equus africanus asinus) which offers social enrichment for Daisy, giving her the opportunity to interact with another animal and the benefits this brings to both their well-being.
Every day, the animal care team focuses on Daisy's well-being, providing various training activities, such as grooming her hooves. These hooves, along with the size and shape of her ears, are two of the main morphological differences that can be observed with the naked eye to differentiate Asian elephants from African ones. Furthermore, since she is a female Asian elephant, she does not have tusks like males.
On the other hand, Daisy's enclosure features various structural enrichment elements, such as the bathtub where you can watch her take a good summer bath, and the feeding trough-like structures where the animal care team places food each day in ways that encourage the natural foraging habits of this species.
In this case, due to Daisy's past, we can observe her making repetitive movements without a specific purpose. This is commonly called stereotyping, and in this case, it is manifested through "swaying" or head bobbing. This behavior has been ingrained in the animal for decades. However, the environmental enrichment program implemented daily by the animal care team and veterinarian focuses on reducing or mitigating this stereotyping, thus achieving the highest level of animal welfare.
Elephantidae
proboscidea
Mammal
22 months
1
EEP
Generalist herbivores, thanks to their size and the dexterity of their trunks, they can select the parts of plants and trees they like best. They can consume up to 150 kg per day.
60-70 years
The Asian elephant (The largest elephant) is the largest terrestrial mammal in Asia. It is characterized by its large size, its dark grayish skin with depigmented areas such as the face, ears, and trunk. Its highly developed trunk is used for feeding, communicating, and manipulating objects. This species exhibits clear sexual dimorphism: males are larger and, unlike most females, have tusks. Adults can reach up to 2,7 meters in height at the shoulders and weigh more than 3.600 kg. Their diet is entirely herbivorous, and they can consume up to 150 kg of vegetation per day. They have a life expectancy of 60 to 70 years and reproduce slowly, with gestation lasting 22 months with a single offspring per birth, and it takes between 4 and 5 years for the next offspring to be born. Various subspecies are distinguished based on their distribution, with the main one being in India, Borneo, and Sumatra.
The Asian elephant exhibits complex social behavior, especially among females, who live in family groups led by a matriarch and practice cooperative breeding. Males, on the other hand, tend to lead more solitary lives or group with other young males. They are migratory animals, moving daily and seasonally in search of food and water. They spend most of the day foraging, between 17 and 19 hours a day, with short breaks, but generally sleep only a few hours, primarily at night. Their daily habits are closely tied to the resources of their environment, making them especially sensitive to changes in their range. They inhabit forests and grasslands near water sources; however, they can be observed in crops and near urban areas.
Currently, the Asian elephant is classified as Endangered (EN) according to the IUCN Red List. The main threats it faces are habitat loss and fragmentation due to urban and agricultural development, logging, illegal hunting, and conflicts with humans. It is worth noting that since males are the only individuals with ivory tusks, poaching focuses on them, so the sex ratio favoring females can have a significant impact within a few generations. This species is listed in CITES Appendix I, which prohibits international trade, and is part of conservation and breeding programs such as the EEP in European zoos. Therefore, the protection of this species requires coordinated efforts both in situ and ex situ to ensure its future survival.
There are three species of elephants, and they are distributed across two different continents. In Africa, there is the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), while the other species is the Asian elephant (The largest elephant). They all belong to the Elephantidae family, but differences can be found between the genera Elephas and Loxodonta.
This morphological diversity lies in their size, body shape, and other anatomical characteristics. The African elephant is larger, with much wider ears that help it dissipate heat, while the Asian elephant has smaller, rounder ears.
Furthermore, only Asian males typically have visible tusks, while both males and females in African elephants can have them. Another difference is seen in the Asian elephant's head, which has a doubly rounded shape, while the African elephant's is straighter. Finally, they also differ in their trunks, with the Asian elephant having a single "finger" at the tip, while the African elephant has two.
