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Plant a Seed for Change

Urban areas are widely known for their vitality and culture and increasingly for their value to resident and transient wildlife. More >

Find the Stamp of Approval

By reading labels, you can support companies that are working to meet consumer demand without destroying the environment. More >

Watch What You Eat

Although the United States imports less palm oil than other countries such as the United Kingdom and China, that is about to change dramatically.
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Elephants Then and Now

Like so many other dynamic species, elephants on the island of Borneo are in dire straits. Learn more about this unique animal that is perhaps the most endangered subspecies of elephant in the world and then prepare for some surprising discoveries as you track the evolutionary history of elephants from more than 58 million years ago to today.

The Philadelphia Zoo is the lead partner working with a local non-governmental organization (NGO), Hutan, in Borneo to support an Elephant Conservation Unit (ECU). The overall goal of the ECU is to ensure elephant conservation through scientific study and by developing a community-based education program to help villagers live more peacefully with the elephants. Take a closer look at this project with Zoo VP of Conservation Kim Lengel and then enjoy an overview by Emeritus Trustee of the Philadelphia Zoo, Mrs. Virginia Pearson, of some of the research currently being conducted around the world on elephant conservation.

Program participants will have an opportunity to examine three skulls from contemporary Loxodonta africana, Loxodonta cyclotis and Elephas maximus, as well as fossil teeth of long-extinct ancestors of modern elephants and much more. Demonstrations of elephants' infrasound communication, a complex "language" mostly inaudible to the human ear; new findings on elephant thermoregulation, the ability of elephants to self-regulate their body temperature and examples of data sheets used on Borneo to record research on elephant life cycles and conflicts will also be available.

For more information or to register contact Valerie Peckham at peckham.valerie@phillyzoo.org.