The elephants at the Performing Animal Welfare Society's ARK 2000 sanctuary spend long hours foraging and grazing as they traverse their spacious, natural habitats. We intuitively know that fresh vegetation is good for elephants, but what exactly are the benefits of these dietary components?

Green, leafy vegetation is an excellent source of nutrients including vitamin E, a critically important component of elephant nutrition that contributes to a healthy immune system, and healthy skin, muscle and heart function. The very act of grazing has multiple benefits including reinforcement of social bonds, strengthening muscles, and engaging the mind and body in meaningful activity.

The tip of an elephant's trunk is finely coordinated, strong, and shows remarkable dexterity when manipulating objects. When grazing, elephants tend to gather a bundle of grass with roots and soil attached to it. Each elephant has his or her own unique way of eating grass, as distinctive as the individual's personality. Maggie places a bunch of grass in just the right spot in her mouth, and uses her teeth to "snip" off the roots, letting them fall to ground before chewing and swallowing the leafy part of the grass. Toka will sometimes holds her grass bundles close to the ground and use one foot to break off the some of the root ball before chewing the rest. Gypsy taps her grass bundle against her leg or a tree trunk to dislodge soil before eating.

In nature, wild elephants may spend up to 80% of their day foraging for food and water. Guided by seasonal availability, as well as cultural wisdom passed down through generations, elephants are specially adapted to take advantage of whatever vegetation is available to satisfy their nutritional requirements. After the rainy season when grass is abundant, elephants consume large amounts of it. In dry seasons, elephants still consume grass, but also eat more tree bark, leaves, branches, and other "woody" plant material.

Visit our website to learn more: http://pawsweb.org/

Meet the PAWS elephants here: http://www.pawsweb.org/meet_elephants...