In Roman times elephants appeared in fights with other animals or gladiators. Fortunately most spectators did not appreciate a bloody spectacle involving elephants. In the 19th century elephants appeared in American and European circuses. Famous ones like Barnum and Bailey, Krone and Bouglione had many elephants and used them to draw large crowds.

When performing, elephants often have to do things which are very painful for them: an elephant does not have a body adapted to standing on its head, and it is very bad for its joints if it has to stand on only two legs. It is clear that elephants do not belong in a circus: they never get enough room and often the keepers do not have the necessary experience and facilities to treat them properly. Bulls in particular cannot be kept in a circus when they grow up: a number of fatal accidents have already happened..

In zoos, an elephantís situation usually depends on different factors. Although all elephants should be in the wild, it can be possible, in a good zoo, for an elephant to live in acceptable conditions. But how does a zoo offer acceptable conditions?

First of all, there have to be a number of elephants: they are sociable animals and a lone elephant can get very lonely.

Secondly, their enclosures have to be spacious, both inside and outside. When an elephant has too little space, its behaviour begins to change and it starts to swing its head constantly from one side to the other, or it takes one step forwards, then backwards, in a repetitive motion.

Thirdly, the keepers have to be experienced, and finally the elephants should have various things to do, to make sure they do not get bored. For instance, their food should not always be put in the same place so that they have to look for it.

Some zoos are able to breed elephants very successfully, which is not an easy task as quite a lot of calves die in zoos. Hopefully zoos will build up the necessary experience, because if ever the situation gets very desperate in the wild, zoos might be the only places where elephants can survive.

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