At 8:30 a.m., the day's work begins at Asian Elephant enclosure. When the large hydraulic door is opened, the warm air heated by the elephants' body heat flows out into the cold outside air. A wheelbarrow is prepared for everyone, and each person starts working with a shovel and a bamboo broom!

First, they clean the females' enclosure. At Tama Zoo, they take all the elephants out of African Bush Elephant enclosure before starting the cleaning, but at Ueno Zoo, they proceed with the work while the elephants are still inside the Asian Elephant enclosure.

We collect large amounts of dung and food scraps with a bamboo broom, pick them up with a shovel, and transport them in a wheelbarrow. We clean not only the animal enclosures but also the elephants' bodies. To do this, we first make them sit down with the command "sit," then turn them to their sides with the command "tee," and then sweep their backs. Next, we make them stand up with the command "forward," and then lift their legs with the command "legs," and clean the soles of their feet thoroughly.

Atti, a male, is the first to go outside, but he undergoes training before going out to the exercise area. He is trained to move forward, backward, or lie down just by giving commands from behind the fence, and if he does as he is given, he is rewarded with bread or a banana. Next, he is trained to stick his leg out from behind the fence. If he does so properly, he is rewarded with a banana. He is never scolded. His reward is his favorite food.

Once this training is over, Atti will go to the exercise area. After the males, the females will be brought out to the exercise area in a set order, and then the males and females will each receive training, and then they will be given pellets as a treat, at which point the park will open (9:30 AM).

In the exercise area, they are given several servings of fresh grass as a treat, and then returned to their enclosure around 3:30 p.m. Even then, they are made to lie on their side on command, their backs are swept clean, and then they are brought back into the enclosure. First, Mess enters, and then Atti. As soon as they enter the enclosure, they begin training to make Atti extend her legs on command. However, one day, Atti refused to obey the command. No matter how many times we tried, the result was the same. As we pondered this, the handler who had been giving the command pointed to what Atti was engrossed in eating and said, "You can't beat sugarcane."

I had heard that they were buying sugarcane. And on this particular day, that sugarcane was included in their food. The reward for training should be their favorite food, but if there's something tastier nearby, the training won't work.

After that, we started giving her sugarcane to eat after her training was over, but Atti would just wait at the place where she could get sugarcane, even if it meant only a little bit of training.

[Akira Takafuji, Head of the Children's Zoo Section, Ueno Zoo Zoo]

(January 4, 2008)