Sehrish Khan, Roohi Kanwal, Ubaid Ullah, Shaista Aslam, Uzma Manzoor, *M Zaheer Khan, Ponum Nasir, Laraiba Noor, Kazim Hussain, Abida Rais, Aamir Ismail and Syed Ali Ghalib
Keywords: Loxodonta africana, foraging behavior, captivity, enclosure, trunk.
Abstract: This study examined the foraging behavior of elephants kept at Safari Park and Karachi Zoological Garden over a period of one year. There are four African elephants (Loxodonta africana) maintained in captivity at Karachi city. In the Safari Park, elephants are housed in a large enclosure made up of cement-flooring occupying the area of 68000 sq ft, however they spend most of their time in resting area which is located within the enclosure, and they take walk for about four hours in the morning and two hours in the evening per day outside the sand flooring area. While in the Zoological Garden they are housed in an enclosure comprising the area of 15534 sq ft which is separated from resting area comprising of 1978 sq ft. It was recorded that each elephant in Safari Park consumes about 221.5 kg of food per day, while each elephant housed in Karachi Zoo consumes about 265 kg of food per day which includes 58.6% of plant matter and 41.3% of supplementary diet. Zoo captive elephants, in particular have been the subject of several debates, related to walking, foot health, and stereotypic behavior. This study shows that the food provided to them fulfills the basic nutritional requirements. Elephants did not show any aggressive behavior during the study period. The actions and movements of the trunk by the elephants during their daily activity were also noted.
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