Pachyderms have returned to the treasure coast for the first time since the end of the Ice Age. This week The National Elephant Center’s board members and staff proudly welcomed four African elephants to Fellsmere. The family group, consisting of two females and two males, are the professional elephant care facility’s first residents. The Center’s mission is focused on advancing the care of elephants in North America.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the first elephants to The National Elephant Center,” said Keith Winsten, The Center’s board chair and executive director of the Brevard Zoo. “We’ll provide these animals and those that arrive in the future with the highest quality of animal care, inspired by our deep love of elephants.”

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Elephant Species Survival Program (SSP) supported the animals’ move to The Center. Because elephants are endangered, the SSP carefully manages the population in accredited North American zoos to ensure individuals are part of healthy social groupings to ensure their health and well-being. Previously the four animals lived at an AZA- accredited facility in central Florida.

African elephants are larger than their Asian counterparts with the capability to grow more than 13-feet tall and weigh more than 10 tons, or 20,000 pounds. They also have the largest brain and longest gestation period of any land animal with each pregnancy averaging more than 21 months.

As many as five more elephants could join the herd as the barn has capacity for nine animals though no additional elephants are confirmed. The Center could some day care for dozens of elephants as additional barns and habitats are completed on the 225-acre site. The first phase of development saw the completion of a large barn with paddocks, a keeper work center and four interconnected pastures that provide the elephants more than 20 acres to roam. Each pasture includes watering holes, mud wallows, dust bathing areas, shade and other natural features used by elephants.