animals at AK About This Page:

[genhand]

With my family, we went to Parc Safari(it's like a zoo) in quebec this summer, where they chain up the elephants and rhino for "our" protections!! But when we did Kilimanjaro Safari, the elephant and rhino weren't chain!!! Can someone explain to me how they do it? I mean, I'm not a big fan of chainning animals... I was really impress with Disney!
Thank you

[lukeandbrookesmom]

The Disney Imagineers have made the safari area so that the animal barriers protecting the animals/people are virtually invisible to guests. They are free roaming and not chained at all but they are protected from their natural predators in the safari area and the guests are protected as well by these barriers. If you ever get a chance to watch the Travel Channel they air a really great AK show that explains and shows all the barriers and such.

[genhand]

Originally Posted by lukeandbrookesmom

The Disney Imagineers have made the safari area so that the animal barriers protecting the animals/people are virtually invisible to guests. They are free roaming and not chained at all but they are protected from their natural predators in the safari area and the guests are protected as well by these barriers. If you ever get a chance to watch the Travel Channel they air a really great AK show that explains and shows all the barriers and such.

Thanx a lot, I'll have to check it out on youtube because we don't have the same travel channel in canada

[Joy J]

Disney's technique of displaying animals in as natural surroundings as possible is one of the main fascinations for me about Animal Kingdom. If you want to gain an even deeper appreciation for the many fantastic wonders of Animal Kingdom, I heartily recommend the Backstage Safari behind the scenes tour. This is my favourite of all the Disney tours I've taken. We learned so much and had so many wonderful experiences on this tour (even the opportunity to pet a white rhino).

Joy

[chezp]

I'm fascinated by how Disney do it. I know the theory behind it, but even knowing that, I still can't spot how they keep the animals away from you - they just look so close and it looks like they could easily come right up to you. Amazing.

[bradk]

what disney does isn't necessarily exclusive to disney mind you. there is a 'new zoo' mentality which uses natural and hidden barriers to segregate animals in a way that keeps them safe but keeps the exhibit true to their natural environment for both them and guests. lions for example can be kept with other animals but separated with moats, which they generally tend to avoid.

most often the greatest barrier is humans. generally speaking the only human interaction they have with keepers and just how much is varied. they do not want to have animals acclimated to guests. this is why for example they will kill bears in national parks if someone feeds them.

back to elephants, there's something remarkable about them. 'they don't forget.' in new zoo terms, they are trained as children to learn their physical limits. you'll see when there are babies around that some areas have 'walls' (usually made of burlap) set up around the perimeter. at DAK specifically, these are decorated with something like 'Harambe Relocation Project' (wish I had gotten photos of the ones I had seen). Anyway, the elephants see the burlap walls as being solid and never attempt to go through them. Over time, that wall is progressively lowered until it's gone. The elephant never realizes that the physical limitation (which was never really there to begin with) is now gone and they respect the invisible barrier.

It's related to a controversial practice (which sounds like your zoo does) that is most widely known as happening at Ringling Brothers Circus where you will find full grown elephants tethered by a leg by a small rope or light chain (which is based on a real world practice that occurs somewhere I don't recall which is just as controversial). basically as an infant, the elephant learns that the rope restricts their movement. As an adult, there is no doubt the elephant could snap the rope or chain at a whim, but the mental barrier still exists so they just accept it.

at DAK there is additional stuff set up such as cattle guard. there's even a bridge that you can see by turning around in the vehicle at one point exclusively for the elephants so they can cross between each area without getting in the path of the vehicles.