The National Elephant Center facts for kids

The National Elephant Center was a special place in Fellsmere, Florida, created to help care for African and Asian elephants. It was a non-profit organization, meaning it didn't aim to make money, but rather to help a good cause. It was started by experts from zoos that are approved by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

The center was open from 2013 to 2016. It was built on a large area of land, about 225-acre (91 ha), which is like 225 football fields! Besides caring for elephants, it also aimed to support research and help manage elephant populations in zoos. The National Elephant Center closed in 2016 due to challenges, including the loss of some elephants.

Even though it wasn't fully approved by the AZA, the center was a team effort with AZA zoos. It hoped to become a top place for managing elephant populations and a world leader in elephant care and research, both for elephants in zoos and those living in the wild.

History of the Elephant Center

In 2004, people started thinking about creating a national center for elephants. This idea came from a meeting of elephant experts from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. For many years, people who worked with elephants in zoos, like curators and veterinarians, wanted a place to help manage the roughly 290 elephants living in 109 different AZA-approved zoos across the country.

After this meeting, many AZA-approved zoos gave money to explore how to set up such a center. They wanted a tool to help with elephant management and conservation.

A search began to find the best place for the center. At first, a team of elephant experts chose land near Okeechobee in central Florida. This land was offered by a company called Waste Management, Inc.

The National Elephant Center was officially announced in February 2008 at the Houston Zoo. They hoped to start building in late 2008 and welcome the first elephants in 2009. The first chosen site was next to a natural area that helped protect threatened Florida sandhill cranes and other endangered animals. Waste Management planned to lease the land to the center for a very low price for 40 years.

However, later on, they decided that a site in Fellsmere, Florida was a better choice. Building began there in April 2012. The center's first elephants arrived in May 2013. This first group included two female and two male elephants from Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. The full plan for the center was expected to take up to 10 years to complete.

What the Center Looked Like

The National Elephant Center was located on 225 acres (91 ha) of land in Fellsmere, Florida.

The center had homes for its staff and two large barns for elephants. One barn was for Asian elephants, and the other was for African elephants. Each barn could hold up to nine elephants. The barns were connected by a central area. Around them was a 10-acre (4.0 ha) habitat. This habitat could be divided into smaller areas depending on what the elephants needed.

The biggest part of the center was called the Central Elephant Meander. This was a huge 50-acre (20 ha) area. It had different types of landscapes, like those found in the elephants' natural homes, such as savannahs and woodlands. This area had paths, waterholes, sand dunes, and plants for the elephants to explore and eat.

Helping Elephant Populations

The National Elephant Center aimed to help elephants in several ways:

• Population Management: It helped AZA-approved zoos by providing short-term and long-term homes for male elephants (called bulls). It also offered a place for elephants to stay when their home zoos were being fixed up. Sometimes, if a group of elephants changed (like when babies were born or elephants passed away), the center could help test if new groups of elephants would get along.
• Training: The center had a special place for training elephant keepers, veterinarians, and others. It offered hands-on training in the newest ways to care for elephants. This included learning about their food, health, fun activities, and how to help them have babies (like artificial insemination).
• Research: The center provided chances for scientists to study elephants. They researched things like how elephants have babies, their memory, how they talk to each other, how well they see, what food they need, and how to treat their sicknesses. This research helped both Asian and African elephants.
• Conservation Support: The center helped elephant conservation programs. It was a place where elephant experts could work together. This included groups like the AZA Elephant Taxon Advisory Group and other organizations like the International Elephant Foundation.
• Public Education: The center also wanted to teach people about elephants. Studies show that when people see elephants up close in zoos, it makes them care more about protecting wildlife. The center aimed to be a resource for learning about elephants and to create programs that would share important messages with the public.

Research and Conservation Efforts

Research: Elephants living in the wild are facing more challenges. Their homes are shrinking, and human towns are growing closer to them. Research at The National Elephant Center aimed to give conservationists tools to help manage these wild elephant groups.

Advocacy: The center hoped to speak up for elephants both in the United States and around the world. It wanted to work with others to help solve problems that affect elephants' survival.

Education: Even though the center wasn't open to the public, it wanted to teach local school children. It also supported education programs at approved zoos across the country. These programs teach millions of visitors each year about elephants and their situation in the wild.

Conservation: The center was an important place for research that helped zoos support Asian and African elephant populations in the wild.

Elephant Research Programs

The National Elephant Center helped lead and support over 85 different research programs focused on elephants. These programs directly looked at many of the problems affecting elephants in the wild. The center also supported the International Elephant Foundation (IEF). This is another non-profit group that helps many elephant conservation, science, and education projects worldwide.