How does one write about moving elephants you’ve taken care of from a home they have known for over 25 years and one that I have worked in for almost 18 years? There are so many cliches that fit this situation, but none of them feels right.
On Thursday, May 7, the elephant keepers for the Zoo started work at 5 a.m. We did our normal routine that we have been doing for years. We put the girls in their barn and cleaned their yard. We readied their crates, and at around 6 a.m. we started to load them. By 6:45 they were all secure in their crates and the cranes were called to lift them onto their trucks for the quick trip to Elephant Odyssey.
After all were put on the truck, we walked with them on their short trip. They were a bit nervous, which was expected, but seemed to be doing well. We arrived at our new home around 8:30 a.m. and proceeded to unload and introduce them to Elephant Odyssey.
Sumithi was the first to be unloaded, and she did very well. We opened up her crate and she backed out and went right to her keeper. After letting her check out the facility for a bit, we moved on to letting Devi out. She, too, was put into position, door opened, and she back out just as Sumithi had done and went to her keeper. Devi and Sumithi were put together and they chirped and barked at their reintro to each other.
Now there was one more door to open and the three would once again be together. Tembo was unloaded the same as the other two and without any problems. She was sent to me inside the facility, and she came right away. Other than some little baby steps as she exited the crate, she seemed okay. We opened up the doors where the other two had been kept and all seemed happy to be with each other again! There was lots of vocalizing, but they quickly settled in and checked out the area. We opened up a door and gave them access to one of the staging areas outside, and all three came out and went to their keepers. All of this was done by 9:30 a.m., and to say we were happy is a gross understatement. We were ecstatic with the move. More than a year of planning had resulted in the move going off without a hitch. Our girls are in their new home and so am I!
Ron Ringer is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous blog, Elephants: They’re Here
Congratuations on this major step. Can someone PLEASE give us some updates about the new African elephant calf? How about some photos and telling us his name!!! I see him on the live cam and he’s beyond cute. But what’s his name?
Thanks!
Ron, I am so excited to hear that all the elephants are now in their new home at Elephant Odyssey. Now they have lots to explore and plenty of room to roam around. Only one more hurdle to jump and they will be one happy herd in a new land ready for the grand opening. How soon do you plan to start the introductions? With all the excitement around the grand opening next Friday, it is logical to think that you might wait until that furor dies down a bit to release them into the same space, but it is also possible that you have started the introductions over the past week in the SDZ’s elephants new home. Since the WAP part of the group has had two weeks to get acclimated, and they had the farthest to travel, hopefully everyone is adjusting well to the sights and smells of their new home.
Hi! Now that you have taken Devi, Sumithi, and Tembo to Elephant Odyssey, when will you be getting those 3 elephants with the rest of the herd that was taken to EO about a week ago? Hope everything will go well with all of them! Enjoy them in their new home!
Still NO NEWS on the newest baby elephant calf’s name!! When is he going to get a name, you all?? We are all wanting to know the calf’s name, so will you all PLEASE let us know the name that you gave this cute adorable little guy??? He needs a name!
Will check back later on for an answer!
Luv yas,
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Now have they met the other 4? How’d that go?
There is something very humorous about seeing elephants on the SoCal freeway. One wonders what they must have been thinking since so much information is obtained through their feet. People don’t realize how fast things can go horribly wrong when relocating an elephant. It is a BIG deal that everyone made it safe and sound.
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your well wishes. Right now our plans are to get through the grand opening. There has been lots of activities going on around Elephant Odyssey, and we would like to see things calm down a bit before we start the introductions. We also want all the construction to be done before we start. Probably in a few weeks or so. Stay tuned!
Just goes to show how intelligent elephants really are, and how great the SDZ keepers are. Even though they were nervous, the elephants trust their keepers and that makes all the difference. Great job, everyone! Now I just have to figure out a way to afford a trip from the midwest to San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Any Safari airline fares, anyone?
All we know is that a baby elephant was born. No updates….no close ups like on the day he arrived….no name. Could someone please fix the cameras so we can see more than a log, wide open nothing spaces, maybe an elephant or two in the far distance, and fill us in on this little new guy? Thanks so much!
great work and congrats. to everyone that was involved in the move. boy, those elephants going right to their own keepers speaks for itself!!! after being reassured that all was ok and greeting everyone, onto checking out the new digs!! they must love and trust the keepers alot!
it seems like alot of people out there in blog land are very impatient about the baby elephant’s name and updates on him!! all in due time!!! their has been alot going on at the zoo, and we are lucky to get all the information that we get! we don’t realize how busy everyone has been. we need to cut them a little slack.
I am sure we will find out when the time is right. just like baby frank ( the gorilla baby ) I know I was very impatient waiting for info. on him. but that was before all the other chaos was going on! eventually, the information and pictures came along with the NAME!
I just saw a video on the BBC News website of the newborn elephant in Antwerp. The video includes sound so I got to hear the welcome-new-baby trumpeting!
Mark,
If you would like to see another birth video, go to Oregon Zoo’s web site and they have video of Rose-Tu giving birth to Sam.
Thanks for the link, Pat! The Oregon one was harrowing. Poor Rose-Tu (losing so much blood) and Samudra (needing to breathe from a tank). Phyo Phyo in Antwerp in Antwerp and Baby K (who doesn’t have an official name yet either) didn’t seem to have those problems. I’m glad all four are doing better now!
What will be going in the exhibit on Elephant Mesa now?
Moderator’s note: We’ll be unveiling those plans soon. These are exciting, busy times for the Zoo!
Today (5/19/2009) I saw the BBC “Day in pictures”section and it says Phyo Phyo’s daughter’s name is now Kai Mook instead of Baby K (then I looked up “Kai Mook” on Google News and so far most of the hits are in Flemish). Between 2 days for Kai Mook and however long it’ll take for San Diego’s little guy, that’ll average out to something OK, right?
OK, *now* the English-language press has news on Kai Mook. Expatica Belgium says that Kai Mook means “pearl” in Thai, mayor Patrick Janssens recorded her in the register of births, Flemish Prime Minister Kris Peeters is her godfather, and Flemish Economy Minister Patricia Ceysens is her godmother. Also, Antwerp Zoo names all new babies in roughly alphabetical order to make it easy to tell how old everyone is: last year all newborns got names staring with J, next year all newborns will get names starting with L, etc. Animals transferred from other zoos don’t get name changes.
…and now, according to the English edition of Flanders Today, the zoo director says the crowds are getting too big and advises anyone who doesn’t already have travel plans to visit the zoo this week to wait instead (“Give it a few days. Baby elephants stay cute for a long time”). My apologies for contributing to the hype overload!
I am just so excited and happy that Elephant Odessey is open for business and all ellies are finally there. We were all waiting so long. Ron thanks for all you do with the ellies. Ellies are my favorite animal, those gentle giants, I just love them. You know, if I were not so ill, I would make a trip back to California to see all the action at Elephant Odessey and WAP. My husband spent 28 years with LAFD, but when he retired, we moved to Pennsylvania, my home state. I love watching animals on live cams, just wish there were sound with your cams, takes me to a happy place. Thanks again for all you keepers do.
Knowing you and the Zoo elephant team, Ron, “our girls” and the rest will be just fine. As I continue to blog @ pandas, what is done here is all about the critters —– they are the family of those who work with them.
Glad that it all continues to go well!
Hope you have a fabulous Grand Opening of Elephant Odyssey today. I am sure there will be many photos, videos and blog accounts of the festivities in the weeks to come. I am sure the elephants are just as excited as their keepers with their new expanded habitat!
Have a great time with your grand opening of Elephant Odyssey! That’s been a huge undertaking for a good couple of years, and now a whole lot of people can see more elephants at SDZ. Have fun, you all! At least you will be having much better weather than we are here in Florida. We’re very glad to get the rain to help with this drought, but we’re looking for a short break from all of this water falling over the last week or so! Still waiting on the new update about the new calf and the name that you all have given him, as well as what he’s been doing and any milestones he has accomplished.
Have a wonderful day at the EO grand opeining!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
I know a lot of people who would love to hear Dr. Chase speak. Unfortunately, they are spread out all over the US. It would be wonderful if someone found a way to make lectures available via the web.
This is part two of a blog I wrote for the Panda blog. (read Rose’s Part 1 at http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/gao-gao-grandbabies/#comments Look for Comment #152.) We attended the Elephant Odyssey on opening day on Saturday. At the entrance of EO, there is a simulated tar pit that drains every ten minutes to reveal fossils. This room also has many fossils on display and an attendant will gladly show the fossils and answer any questions.
As we walked along the winding path through the EO, we saw the life-size replicas of the animals that lived in Southern California over 12,000 years ago. The giant statues were fabricated in Milwaukee and under the supervision of EO Ambassador, Rick Schwartz, were trucked to the San Diego Zoo. These statues are awesome! By the way, there are plaques that describe each exhibit as you walk through the EO. The walkway is absolutely beautiful – so many unique plants, trees, shrubs and flowers.
We visited the new elephant management facility where the keepers were showing the visitors how they move the elephants through the facility in order to care for them. We were so surprised to see how very close we were to the elephants – about ten feet. On command, Tembo, a female elephant, was brought to an iron cage. The keepers washed and rinsed her feet – she looked so cute after her pedicure. Tembo was very cooperative and followed all the keepers’ instructions. While we were watching Tembo get her pedicure, I heard a deep purring sound and asked Ann, the head elephant keeper, if Tembo was purring. She answered, “yes”. Ann also stated that each elephant has his or her own “happy sound”. Tembo purrs, others click, grunt and bark. Ann was very informative and very knowledgeable. All the dedicated keepers and trainers are very caring and you could tell that they truly enjoy taking care of these gentle giants.
The elephants have a beautiful pool with a waterfall and really enjoy wading in the pool. A keeper stands on the other side of the pool along a wall and calls them. The elephants wade into the pool and move towards the keeper and are rewarded with special nutritious treats. The elephants look so cute when they leave the pool. They all have a “water line” at their belly level and their top half is gray and their wet bottom half is black.
There are so many things to see and do at the EO. It is just not possible to describe them all here. Besides elephants, we saw capybaras and tapirs enjoying their shared, very spacious exhibit. They also have their own private pool and waterfall. We saw the exquisite condors, camels, guanacos and many more animals.
It was a wonderful day at the EO. As I mentioned in the previous Panda blog, we met and chatted with the Elephant Odyssey Ambassador, Rick Schwartz. You can see and feel the enthusiasm, care and love of all these animals from Rick and all the other zoo employees that we met. They are a wonderful group and we are grateful for their hard work and dedication.
Moderator’s note: Thank you, Rose, for your kind comments!
Rose – It was great to meet you too! I have been very busy as you know, but hope to get a blog posted soon about the opening of Elephant Odyssey!
Thank you, Rose, for a great introduction to the EO from a seasoned visitor’s perspective. It sounds like it has fulfilled its objective for both the animals who live there and the visitors who come to see them.
CONGRATULATIONS SDZ staff on an outstanding job and a fabulous opening day for EO!
Rose — Thank you so much for your delightful “trip notes” from your recent visit to the SDZ and the new Elephant Odyssey — I really do look forward to them — it’s like I’m there with you. I really do need to get down there soon — it’s been a bit — and the new exhibit sounds incredible. Congratulations everyone involved in it for a job well done! Our elephants must be ecstatic — especially thinking about Tembo purring — definitely a good sign.
Cheryl #25 – Yes, the Elephant Odyssey is incredible. When you visit, you will have a fun day filled with many surprises. Seeing the elephants happily exploring their new home gave me a nice warm feeling. I know that they are content and thoroughly enjoy their new surroundings. All of this is possible due to the very dedicated, hardworking, individuals who enjoy taking care of these elephants.