Latest Elephant Stories

VIENNA, Va., Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation® proudly announces the birth of a healthy male Asian elephant. Our twenty-fifth calf, Nate, is named in honor of Feld Entertainment Executive Producers Nicole, Alana, and Juliette Feld's grandfather. Nate is the largest calf born to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation breeding program - the most successful Asian...

New fossil reveals history of last-living marine mammals to eat only aquatic plants A new fossil discovered in Tunisia represents the oldest known ancestor of modern-day sea cows, supporting the African origins of these marine mammals. The find is described in research published January 16 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Julien Benoit and colleagues from the University of Science and Technology in Montpellier, France. Some fossils of sea cow ancestors have been found in Jamaica,...

BANGKOK, Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas has introduced Black Ivory Coffee at its four resorts in the Maldives, joining the group's Anantara Golden Triangle resort in Thailand as the first hotels in the world to offer one of the most unique coffee experiences on the planet. Black Ivory Coffee is created from a process whereby coffee beans are digested and naturally refined by Thai elephants. Research indicates that during digestion, the enzymes of the...

[ Watch the Video: An Elephant that Speaks Korean ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online What is cooler than a monkey that can do sign language? An Asian elephant that can speak Korean, which is exactly what one elephant named Koshik has learned to do. Researchers wrote in the journal Current Biology that they have confirmed that Koshik has learned how to speak Korean by vocalizing it with his trunk in his mouth. Koshik currently knows how to say hello, sit down,...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online [ Watch the Video: Elephant Researchers Build Solar-Powered Research Camp ] Elephant researchers have transformed an elephant field study camp in Namibia's Etosha National Park into a solar-powered facility. The solar-powered research camp gives scientists an opportunity to observe, videotape and photograph wild elephants at the Mushara waterhole. "One of the really special aspects of solar energy is that it allows us to be in...

Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Our ancestors and other species were pretty hairy. They had to be. Body hair on mammals has long been thought of as an evolutionary requirement for survival in cold climes that prehistoric man and the woolly mammoth inhabited. Even today, with the hair on top of your head, you are insulating your body trying to maintain that magic number: 98.6. Or are you? A new study suggests it may do the opposite. Well, where pachyderms are...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A family of elephants deep in the semi-arid African savannah gathers around a watering hole, drinking, bathing and resting. The matriarch moves away from the group, turns her back and gives the "let's-go-rumble" – as it is referred to in scientific literature. This starts a coordinated and well-timed conversation between the leaders of the family, signaling that it is time for the entire family to leave. The rumble that starts the...

VIENNA, Va., Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation® proudly announces the birth of a healthy female Asian elephant - marking the twenty-fourth birth in what is already the most successful Asian elephant breeding program in the Western Hemisphere. The calf, named Piper after Ringling Bros.® producer Nicole Feld's daughter, was born at 8:05 p.m. on August 13, weighing 316 pounds. (Photo:...

YARMOUTH PORT, Mass., Aug. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Based on information provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - www.ifaw.org), China's Forestry Police conducted a surprise inspection on at Chengtian Antique Mall on where they confiscated 107 pieces of illegal ivory and other wildlife products. Three suspects were detained in connection with the August 6(th) seizure. Located near Beijing, the wholesale mall is highlighted in the recent IFAW report,...

The trade in ivory was largely outlawed in 1989, but poaching continues and remains a serious threat to the African elephant. Seizures of large amounts of ivory, sometimes over a ton, continue to occur. Research by Alfred Roca, an assistant professor at the university, could be the basis for the development of new law enforcement tools. Roca has found a way to determine where the ivory comes from. With funding from the Division of International Conservation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...