Eating Lunch With The Elephants

There are so many reasons I love homeschooling and this is one of them. We get to take amazing field trips and see/do amazing things. If the kids were at public school today we would not have been able to experience lunch with the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Pachyderms. It was amazing even I learned a few interesting facts. And it tied right in with our African unit study which we are finishing up and even our Dr Seuss unit study which we are about to begin! What made it even more special was that daddy got to go with us!

These Elephants are Asian Elephants and despite what some people may say they are well taken care of. They are fed a great diet, bathed daily, played with and have constant Veterinary care. When they are ready to retire they do so at the Elephant Conservation Center in Polk County FL which is owned by Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey. They are also sometimes sent to The Phoenix Zoo and The Niabi Zoo so that they can help maintain social herds. The average life expectancy for an Elephant is 45 yrs old. And the circus has 10 over the age of 45 and 3 over the age of 60. If you want to learn more about how they treat their animals you can do so here and here. We learned that these Elephants can understand commands in about 5-6 different languages. We learned that they are very smart and that the saying an "An Elephant never forgets" is true. And we learned that only the male Asian Elephants have tusks...but both the male and female African Elephants have tusks.

If you are in GA the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus will be in Duluth at the Gwinnett Arena February 23-26 and in Columbus at the Columbus Civic Center February 23-26, you can purchase tickets and view other show locations here. Sadly I don't think we will be attending the actual circus due to limited funds but I am so glad we were able to watch the Elephants eat today.

Three videos of the elephants eating lunch. Our favorite part was them eating the watermelons.

Here are some great snapshots:

For once I got a picture with me in it thanks to daddy!

Clowns juggling carrots.

Rowyn had a great view!

Juggling rings.

Clown posing for the camera.

The clown decided he wanted to sample the food.

Still waiting for the elephants so the clowns did some tricks.

Here they come, yay!

Time for some lunch: bread, carrots, lettuce, watermelons, bananas, apples. All of these elephants are girls.

The kids were so excited and thought it was the greatest thing they have ever seen.

Clowning around with the elephants.

Love this shot. One has a banana hanging out of its mouth and the other is about to squash a watermelon.

The clown showing Rowyn how to put his nose on.

My little clown in training.

Time to go but the elephants wanted to take some leftovers home.

Love how they grab tails isn't it cute?

 And of course I have to pass along some FREE homeschool resources:
-Ringling Bros And Barnum and Bailey animal facts
-Ringling Bros And Barnum and Bailey kid section
-Elephant Facts
-Elephant Lapbook
-Elephant Coloring Pages
-Horton Hears a Who Unit Study
-Help FREE Lucy an Elephant being neglected in a Canadian Zoo visit here to find out how. And if you help you can get a coloring book and sticker sheet.

Thanks for stopping by!