Captive elephants

<a href="/facts/Elephant/6prrEFFK">Elephants</a> can be found in various captive facilities such as a <a href="/facts/Zoo/FsM5YT6a">zoo</a>, <a href="/facts/Animal_sanctuary/1QXN7oDu">sanctuary</a>, <a href="/facts/Circus/7flRQANa">circus</a>, or camp, usually under <a href="/facts/Veterinary_medicine/KYNaodgl">veterinary</a> supervision. They can be used for <a href="/facts/Outdoor_education/f6pkhxjV">educational</a>, <a href="/facts/Entertainment/XXRnLM62">entertainment</a>, or work purposes.
The earliest evidence of captive elephants dates to the <a href="/facts/Indus_Valley_civilisation/6xM4aK23">Indus Valley Civilization</a> about 4,500 years ago. Since then, captive elephants have been used around the world in <a href="/facts/War/MPluTbJ0">war</a>, <a href="/facts/Ceremony/c5NTgepr">ceremony</a>, and for <a href="/facts/Working_animal/LRENovAW">labor</a> and entertainment. Captive elephants have been kept in animal collections for at least 3,500 years. The first elephant arrived in North America in 1796. <a href="/facts/London_Zoo/jKC1goyh">London Zoo</a>, the first scientific zoo, housed elephants beginning in 1831.
Before the 1980s, zoos obtained their elephants by capturing them from the wild. Increased restrictions on the capture of wild elephants and dwindling wild populations caused zoos to turn to captive breeding. The first successful captive birth in North America of an <a href="/facts/Asian_elephant/KE152Fa8">Asian elephant</a> occurred at <a href="/facts/Oregon_Zoo/fSIAG4dL">Oregon Zoo</a> in 1962, while the first <a href="/facts/African_elephant/vMA6IWh1">African elephant</a> captive birth occurred at <a href="/facts/Zoo_Knoxville/bmS3a4Xu">Knoxville Zoological Gardens</a> in 1978. Today, most zoos obtain their elephants primarily through <a href="/facts/Captive_breeding/Sy0CA5Re">breeding</a>, though occasionally zoos will obtain elephants from semi-captive work camps in <a href="/facts/Asia/4IToYrrQ">Asia</a> or rescue elephants that would otherwise be <a href="/facts/Culling/lAgVgnC5">culled</a> in <a href="/facts/Africa/XkqQUP9s">Africa</a>. Without an increase in <a href="/facts/Birth_rate/t7GJHp2x">birth rates</a> or an influx of wild elephants, practitioners fear that captive elephant populations could become non-viable within 50 years.
In 2006, 286 elephants were kept in American zoos (147 African elephants and 139 Asian elephants). Nearly one in three Asian elephants lives in captivity—about 15,000 in total—mostly in work camps, temples, and <a href="/facts/Ecotourism/JPq6Vyz2">ecotourism</a> sites in the countries in which they naturally occur. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (<a href="/facts/IUCN/QwV8JXup">IUCN</a>) estimates the total population of Asian elephants in the wild is 40,000 to 50,000, and that of African elephants in the wild is 400,000 to 600,000.

Captive elephants open-in-new

Captive elephants