1. Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants Habitat
2. Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants Endangered
3. Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants In The Wild
4. Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants Coloring Pages
5. Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants

Ever wondered how we keep our Asian elephants in tip-top shape? There’s a lot of work that goes into taking care of these giants – from bathing to exercising to conducting simple veterinary procedures. Before we can do any of these things, though, we need to have the elephants’ cooperation. So we train our elephants to cooperate with their keepers: in other words, the elephants learn to help their keepers help them!

2) Elephants are the world’s largest land animal! Male African elephants can reach 3m tall and weigh between 4,000 -7,500kg. Asian elephants are slightly smaller, reaching 2.7m tall and weighing 3,000– 6,000kg.

All About Rewards: Training Our Elephants

We train our elephants using a system called operant conditioning. It may sound complicated, but it’s really very simple: desired behaviors are rewarded (positive reinforcement) while undesirable behaviors are not. Rewards include things like food treats, verbal praise and enrichment items.

Using rewards helps build positive relationships between our elephants and their keepers – relationships that are absolutely essential to good elephant care. See Getting Ready for Baby (elephant, that is!) for more details.

1. Tiger moms do it alone; raising up to four cubs at a time. Elephants have far more ability, due to their size and tough skin to ride out an attack on a human to affect their escape, and yet tigers escape far more often. Elephants are grazers, so it doesn’t take a lot of mental agility to push down a tree and eat it.
2. The average Asian bull stands 3 m (10 ft) tall and weighs 2300 kg (5100 lb) calf is first born, it weighs about 100 kg. The African Elephant is the largest living terrestrial animal, normally reaching 6 to 7.3 metres (19.7 to 24.0 ft) in length and 3.5 to 4 metres (11.5 to 13.1 ft) in height at the head, and weighing between 6,000 to 9,000 kg (13,000 to 20,000 lb).
3. As the video progresses, we witness astonishing shots of animals and birds like elephants, peacocks, tiger, lion, monkeys and chimpanzees while the Saare Jahan se Acha is heard in the backdrop.

Our keepers work with the elephants, training them to voluntarily participate in their daily care routine. Since our elephants and keepers are usually separated from each other by barriers, the animals learn to move over to certain “access doors” for common procedures (like lifting their foot near a “foot panel” so their keepers can perform daily foot care). The elephants are also trained to cooperate with regular veterinary procedures (like having blood drawn) as well as less-frequent ones (like having an ultrasound). And they also learn how to move between their indoor home and their outdoor habitats at River's Edge.

In the end, all that training is well worth it: our elephants cooperate in their daily care routine.

Keeping Busy: Daily Care of Our Elephants

How do our elephants spend their days? Here’s an example of some of the things that keep them – and their keepers – busy:

• Baths – Anybody have a really big bar of soap? At least once a week, our elephants head to a special shower stall to get cleaned up. They often lie down or stretch out (rear legs bent, front legs extended) so their keepers can hose off and scrub their backs (elephant exfoliation!)
• Oral hygiene – No, our keepers don’t use elephant-sized toothbrushes, but they do take good care of our elephants’ teeth (including the bull’s tusks and the females’ tushes, a smaller version of a tusk). Keepers inspect the animals’ mouth and teeth daily, and trim the tusks and tushes on a regular basis (which helps prevent the elephants from injuring themselves or each other).
• Foot care – It might not be a spa pedicure, but it’s close! Every day our keepers inspect the elephants’ nails, cuticles, and pads to make sure they’re in excellent shape.
• Weigh-in – Talk about tipping the scales! Every day we weigh our elephants to monitor their overall health and growth rates, and also to track pre-natal weight gain on the pregnant cows.
• Routine veterinary checks – An ounce of prevention is worth, well, several tons of cure! To keep track of our elephants’ overall health, we collect and analyze blood and urine samples. We also collect blood samples on a weekly basis to monitor hormone levels which helps with breeding efforts.
• Exercise – They might not do yoga, but our elephants get plenty of exercise. Outside, they have the opportunity to run around, swim, even play in a waterfall. Indoors, they get the chance to exercise when they do things like play with “toys” and take baths.

To learn more about how our elephants exercise and have fun throughout the day, check out Enriching our Elephants.

Anyone working in a laboratory is responsible for their own safety, as well as those working around them. Ultimately the lab director (faculty/lab manager/supervisor) is responsible for the safety of anyone entering their laboratory – faculty, staff, student, or visitor. Personal safety begins with refraining from the following activities in laboratories, animal rooms, procedure rooms, or cold rooms.

• Eating, drinking or smoking
• Storing food and beverages
• Preparing food
• Applying cosmetics

Personal protection also extends to:

• Wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as appropriate clothing under the PPE – i.e. no open toed shoes and the legs and arms should be covered to prevent contamination potential.
• Using, when applicable, good engineering controls such as:
  • Restraint devices
  • Local exhaust ventilation systems
• Maintaining emergency response equipment and understanding how to use it

Personal Protective Equipment

Personnel can use the following equipment for protection from occupational safety and health risks:

• PPE
• Respiratory protection
• Hearing protection

The following personnel are responsible for providing training on the use of PPE to persons under their supervision:

• Supervisors for the animal housing
• Lab Director in the research areas

EHS is available to assist in the proper selection of PPE for the hazard being managed.

The following PPE is used to protect personnel from injury to their eyes, face, head, feet, and hands when working with animals. The department is responsible for supplying the PPE. CAUTION: Before putting on PPE, cover open cuts or abrasions on the body with appropriate dressing.

PPE	CARE INSTRUCTIONS
Laboratory coat Uniform Surgical gown	Departments make arrangements for PPE to be professionally laundered. NOTE: The PPE is not to be taken home. Protective garments should be left in the laboratory when work is completed or, if working with radioactive material, until monitored and found free of radioactive contamination.
Disposable gowns Coveralls Gloves Shoe covers Head covers Face masks	Dispose of these items prior to exiting the room.
Eye protection NOTE: For information about prescription safety glasses contact EHS at (734) 647-1143	Clean after each use.

More Information

For more information about the level of PPE required based on the level of risk for each animal, go to the Animal Handler PPE chart.

Respiratory protection is used to protect personnel from airborne hazards – in particular animal allergens are the most prevalent risk for animal handlers; however, respirators may be required based upon particular chemical or biological materials being handled. Personnel may have a mandatory requirement to wear a respirator as determined by:

• OHS clinicians
• Job responsibilities
• Species exposure
• Personal medical condition

Mandatory respirator users require medical clearance by the U-M Occupational Health Clinic and a fit test to determine proper equipment and sizing, done by EHS. NOTE: A surgical mask is not considered a respirator, and does not require entry into the EHS respiratory protection program. It is an individual decision as to whether or not you want to wear a surgical mask.

More Information

For more information about respiratory protection, go to Respiratory Protection.

The following restraint devices provide additional safety when working with animals:

IF YOU ARE WORKING WITH…	USE THE FOLLOWING RESTRAINT…
Primates	Squeeze cages Nets Heavy leather gloves Kevlar sleeves
Rodents	Plastic restraint tubes Shields
Cats	Canvas restraint bags
Rabbits	Plexiglass restraint box Metal restraint box
Dogs	Muzzles

Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants Habitat

More Information

For training about proper handling and restraint techniques with animals, contact the ULAM animal staff at (734) 764-0277.

Personnel must use a local exhaust ventilation system (ventilation system) when administering hazardous materials including:

• Volatile anesthetic gases for animal research
• Husbandry activities

The types of ventilation system used in animal research include:

• Biological safety cabinets
• Scavenging devices
• Fume hoods
• Snorkel hoods

Roles and Responsibilities

Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants Endangered

The ventilation system is certified for a specific purpose – use of hazardous materials or biological substances – or for general non-hazardous conditions such as general exhaust of heat or steam. Because of the rigid standards for certification, not all systems can be used for hazardous material operations. The following departments work together to ensure ventilation systems are working properly.

Department	Responsibility	Contact Information
Facilities Service Center	Maintains HVAC systems	(734) 647-2059
EHS	Manages equipment failure and repairs Certifies ventilation systems	(734) 647-1143

More Information

Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants In The Wild

• For more information about certifying ventilation systems, go to EHS Standard of Care for Ventilation Engineering Systems.
• For information describing the differences between ventilation systems, refer to EHS Ventilation – What’s the Difference.
  

Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants Coloring Pages

All emergency eyewash and showers are inspected by the Facilities Maintenance on an annual basis. The inspection criteria are based on manufacturer’s recommendations and American National Standards Institute guidelines. The paper inspection tags attached to the equipment are initialed and dated following each inspection. If you notice at any time the equipment is in need of repair, submit a work order to Facilities & Operations Work Control Department by calling the Facilities Service Center at (734) 647-2059 for correction.

Eyewashes must be flushed monthly as detailed below:

Zoocational Animal Tigers Elephants

RESPONSIBLE PARTY	EYEWASHES TO FLUSH
Laboratory staff	Plumbed eyewashes located in laboratory areas NOTE: Report malfunctions to the Facilities Service Center at (734) 647-2059
Animal Husbandry	Plumbed eyewashes located in animal facility areas NOTE: Report malfunctions to the Facilities Service Center at (734) 647-2059
Facilities Maintenance	Eyewash units located in common areas such as corridors