'Nothing to do, nowhere to go': What happens when elephants live alone

On a raw December day, as Christmas music blares over loudspeakers, an African elephant named Asha walks in tight circles in an enclosure at Natural Bridge Zoo, a roadside attraction in Virginia. Her living quarters consist of a barn and three outdoor yards--a fenced patch of grass about 90 by 40 feet, a dirt patch with a few logs scattered about, and a yard where she gives rides to children for $15 and her massive feet have worn a ring into the grass. Her space is barren--no shrubs, trees, or watering holes. Elephants, like humans, are social animals. In the wild, females typically live in herds of eight or more, yet Asha, who's nearly 40 years old, has been confined mostly alone for more than 30 years.