Copenhagen Zoo - Elephant House

The outdoor enclosure for female elephants in Copenhagen Zoo seen from the lookout terrasse of the house
June 2008

That looks like a great pool in the distance! All of those huge posts are ugly, but there's not much else that can be done to contain elephants.

I'm not sure why so many people are so positively impressed by this exhibit. There is no shade, no living vegetation, only one type of substrate (sand), no simulation of wild elephant habitat, and it is by some critics' standards very small (about an acre). The interior is sterile, and as others have pointed out the bull yards and pens are significantly smaller than ideal.

The building's transparent roof and sand floors are nice, but nothing about the overall project has really moved elephant husbandry or exhibition forward.

Actually, compared to the old crappy exhibits they used to live in, this is a paradise for the elephants. But I do agree that the exhibit is still too small.

I found this model of the exhibit on flickr: Elephant house on Flickr - Photo Sharing!