I kid you not! 
SAN DIEGO -- Move over Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, there's a new diet that's proving a success -- and it's fit for an elephant. Seven pachyderms at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park have lost a combined total of 11, 314 pounds ever since zookeepers enforced a nutrition and exercise regimen for them in 2000. The elephants eat a diet high in
HAY and are restricted from treats such as bread, corn and jelly beans. Instead of three big meals per day, they get several small meals.'' [1] The newest weight-loss craze, if it catches on outside the pachyderm world, could be the San Diego Zoo's So-You-Feel-Like-An-Elephant Diet. Elephants at the zoo and Wild Animal Park have lost 11,314 pounds, thanks to a nutrition and exercise plan started by their trainers in 2000. That's nearly 5.7 tons among seven animals.[2]
SAN DIEGO -- A new nutrition and exercise plan has helped the seven elephants at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park collectively lose more than five tons of elephant fat since 2000, it was reported Thursday.[3]
Zoo officials told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the seven massive mammals at the Wild Animal Park and the zoo have slimmed down, dropping more than 11,000 pounds collectively.[4]
Zookeepers also scatter the food around the yard so the animals have to work to find it. At the zoo, keepers trained the elephants to walk laps around their enclosure for exercise.'' Elephants at the Wild Animal Park are also encouraged to walk across their 3-acre living space. You're actually supposed to be able make out the muscles beneath their wrinkly, gray skin. The entire zoo industry is focusing on slimming down elephants in an attempt to increase'' success with breeding and improve their overall health.[1] The pachyderms were given several small meals throughout the day, in lieu of fewer larger meals, the newspaper said. Keepers also made the beasts work a little harder for their meals, and spread the elephants' food across their yards so they had to walk to get to each piece rather than feeding from one spot. The elephants were also directed to walk laps around their enclosures at the zoo and at the park, doing the equivalent of line drills in basketball.[3]
Wanna Lose Weight? Eat More Hay
