is this the entire exhibit? for Elephants this is very small id say. never mind the African Elephant.
@Mzungu: the exhibit won the AZA Best Exhibit award when it opened in 1989, and at the time it was just about the best elephant exhibit in all of North America. Now over twenty years later it is average at best, with about 1.5 acres for 3 elephants (two Asian and one African). It is a long and winding paddock with a Thai theme with the surrounding buildings.
On the center, right-hand side of this photo there are a series of upright wooden beams just slightly outside of the elephant exhibit. That is the location of the brand new feeding station where visitors can pay $5 to feed browse to an elephant. I think that the hours are severely limited as to when that can take place (one hour per day?), but on my visit to the zoo yesterday there was a lineup of at least 20 people waiting for the opportunity to feed an elephant. The zoo also has giraffe feedings in the summer and penguin feedings in the winter, and all are $5 per person.
Do you also feed browse to the giraffes? Seeing as you said it was five dollars, I would hope so. You can feed the giraffes at the Cincinnati Zoo a giraffe "cracker" for just one dollar per person.
Yes, it is browse that is fed to the giraffes. The best giraffe feeding station in North America must be at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, with hordes of zoo visitors with outstretched hands competing to feed crackers to the zoo's enormous herd of 20 giraffes.
Thanks for the reply. With so many animals it would have to be a great spectacle to see. Not only that, but with so many animals it would have to really help create a better experience for the visitors and cut down on the length of the line. At other feeding stations where there are fewer animals you are quite rushed in order to keep the line going.