Through the Sanctuary's diaries, lesson book and extensive photos, students learn how elephants, captured in the wild as calfs, adapt to the Sanctuary's natural habitat after living most of their lives in zoos and circuses.

Did You Know:

• the average lifespan of an Asian elephant is 60 years old
• for healthy feet, elephants need to walk 40 miles a day on varied terrain
• elephants that bob in place are suffering anxiety from lack of movement
• elephants are very social beings, in the wild herds are primarily female, made up of mothers, aunts, grandmothers
• an elephant's diet changes seasonally based on available natural foods. The elephants at the sanctuary love fruit
• mud can protect an elephant's skin from the sun

There are a variety of lessons and activities that help students learned these facts and others about the endangered Asian elephant. Learning about the real lives of the elephants at the Sanctuary, helps students to construct meaning and engages their interest.

A fun extra:

• Try the Elephant Mazes logo game. If you need to download the web player for your browser click here: MicroWorld's Web Player download.

• One lesson for first and second graders we developed includes a HyperStudio stack we created from resources on the Elephant Sanctuary web site. Particularly helpful in developing the "What Do Elephants Eat?" stack was the Elephant Sanctuary's lesson plan book available for download on the Sanctuary's curriculum page.

While the Elephant Biographies provided ample information for developing science curriculum, the Elephant Sanctuary also provides two lesson plan books, one for grades K-4 and another for grades 5-8, both chock-full of activities and lessons for a variety of curriculum areas.

To download and print the lesson plan book, you wild need Adobe Acrobat Reader, also available through the Elephant Sanctuary Curriculum page.