The elephants of Elephant Odyssey
It has been almost a year since Shaba made her trip from Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona (see post Elephant Moves) to her new home in the San Diego Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey. Shaba is a 33-year-old African female who had lived at Reid Park her entire life with her best friend, Connie, an Asian elephant, who passed away from cancer about 5 months after their arrival here (see post Elephant ICU Loses a Member). Since then, we have been working hard to get Shaba acclimated to Elephant Odyssey and to the other four females who live here. They are Mary, a 49-year-old Asian elephant who is the herd’s matriarch, Sumithi, a 46-year-old Asian elephant, Tembo, a 42-year-old African elephant, and Devi, a 36-year-old Asian elephant.
Shaba is a very sweet elephant and works well with her keepers, but she had never been around any other elephants except Connie. We knew it was important for her to get to know everyone quickly, because she needed the socialization that all female elephants require. Our plan was to start her out with an introduction to Mary and then slowly introduce her to Sumithi, Devi, and lastly, Tembo. The initial introduction to Mary went very well—Mary told her who was boss and Shaba accepted that right away! Then it was just a matter of the two getting to know each other. Mary was really good about defining Shaba’s place in Mary’s yard—“all the food is mine, and I will let you have some of it.”
As time went by, the two started spending nights together, and we could see that Shaba was very happy to be around Mary; in turn, Mary was very tolerant of the newbie. After several weeks, we included Sumithi into the group. It also went well as long as Shaba did not get too close to Sumithi’s food. Sumithi would remind Shaba of this by chasing her around the yard. This was pretty funny, because Shaba could really run, and at best, Sumithi could work up a slow saunter. Sumithi got her point across, though, and the three became a workable group pretty quickly. They, too, started spending nights together and all went well.
Then it was Devi’s turn. It was going to be interesting, because Devi had, in the past, gone after the new elephants with a reckless abandon. This never worked out for her, but she tried. When she was put into the group of Mary, Sumithi, and Shaba, Devi was immediately on the defensive. She ran right away from Shaba, who wasn’t sure how to react. No elephant had ever run from her before! Shaba slowly worked her way over to Devi and touched her, and Devi submitted right away. Shaba then spent the next several weeks getting to know Devi, standing next to her, eating from the same spot, and if one of the other elephants started to chase Shaba, she would seek Devi out and use her as a comfort zone.
This went on for several weeks, and then it was time to introduce Tembo. This was a big deal because Tembo likes to charge now, ask questions later. We were prepared for any problems; it was all hands on deck for the elephant staff. We let Tembo into the yard with the other four girls, and she immediately went to the food and started to eat. She basically paid no attention to Shaba, although Shaba was keeping a close eye on her. It went very well for a while, and then Shaba approached Tembo, and Tembo chased her all over the yard. Luckily, Shaba is a lot faster than Tembo and ran away from her. Tembo ran out of steam pretty quickly, and all settled down. These days, the new group is still establishing itself, but Shaba has learned to move out of the way when Tembo comes near. You can see all of our female elephants together in the morning and afternoon. We still have not kept them all together overnight, but that is the next goal of ours.
Shaba has settled in very well. She looks to Mary now as her protector and companion. She gets along pretty well with all the other elephants, but when one decides to get a little pushy, which happens in elephant herds, she immediately runs to Mary. At night, we keep Mary and Shaba together, and we have even witnessed both of them lying side by side at night to sleep. This is GOOD! We will continue to monitor the females as we head into the future, and the future looks really bright for our female herd at Elephant Odyssey.
Ron Ringer is a lead keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous post, Elephant Ranchipur: Healing Nicely.
What wonderful news. It was so sad when Connie passed away and it is great to hear that the introductions went well and that they are all getting along for the most part!
Thanks, Ron; you are a very good story-teller. I am glad to hear Shaba is being accepted into her new herd. I recall reading a previous entry on this work a few months ago. It must take several weeks with each new introduction before moving to the next.
Do these females have younger calves included in this herd? If yes, how is Shaba doing with them?
Thank you in advance for your replies.
Moderator’s note: The herd at the Zoo consists of older elephants, no calves.
sounds like good news. glad to hear Shaba has been herded into the group. interesting that African elephants and Asian elephants will form a group. they sound so human-like in their socialization patterns.
What a sweet blog! Elephants are amazing. I hadn’t heard about mixing Asian and African elephants before and wonder whether they see the difference. Are African elephants more aggressive as a rule or is it just Tembo?
It isn’t that African elephants are more aggressive, they just wear their emotions on their sleeves. They tend to react now and see how things work out. Asian elephants, on the other hand, are calculating and will size up a situation and then react.
Very happy to hear that Shaba is doing well!
So happy that Shaba has found another good friend. Of course there will be some tense encounters with the others, especially Tembo. But at least Shaba has the agility and foot speed to flee to safety.
I was at the San Diego Zoo back in early October and had a chance to go by the elephant exhibit. One of the Asians gave a little shove to one of the Africans who had two nice looking tusks. The funny thing was the African moved out of the spot that the Asian wanted to stand, and the African must be at least 2 feet taller. The Asian had to be Mary after I have read the story. The big girl moved out of the way.
I love learning about the thought and care that goes into care for the animals at the zoo and safari park! Thank you for writing such a great recount of how this herd works.
I loved this blog Ron. Thanks for taking the time to explain all you had to do to get Shaba settled in with the other ladies. I was of the understanding that Asian elephants were smaller than the African elephants. I was surprised to hear that Mary was the matriarch. Is it an age thing then or just whichever has the strongest personality?
Most of the time it is the oldest and strongest, but they also have to have the personality to become a matriarch. Mary has a whole lot of personality!
Has something happened to the camera operator; is he/she okay? The cam has been on a 360º rotate for quite some time and I hope all is well with him/her.
Moderator’s note: Thanks for the alert. Should be fixed now.
I have always thought that the AZA didn’t want mixed herds when it came to elephants since this doesn’t occur in the wild. I realize with Shaba coming to the zoo with Connie it was easier to mix them in with the small herd there instead of making Connie at the time odd ellie out if they had gone to the Safari Park herd.
Would the zoo ever consider taking Shaba and Tembo and trying to intergrate them with the other African ellies at Safari Park so that each specie is with it’s own kind?
Animal care staff at Reid Park Zoo and the San Diego Zoo initially wanted to keep Shaba at Reid Park where she would have been integrated with her own species. Regrettably, zoo opposition groups applied pressure to government officials to have Shaba moved with Connie. This is a good example of why it is so important to have experienced professionals making decisions about animals rather than the emotions of special interest groups dictating decisions. Shaba is doing well at the San Diego Zoo now, and we will work for her best interests in the future.
I thought another part of it was not wanting calves to be exposed to adults of the other species (and adults of the same species who had lived with the other species), in order to not expose them to that virus that can be harmlessly carried by adults of both species but kills calves of one of the species.
Maybe we soft hearted, uneducated people just wanted two old friends who had been together for decades to stay together, because all they knew was each other. Thank God Shaba was with Connie so that when she died she had a friend there and wasn’t surrounded by almost complete strangers!
This is a vast misrepresentation. I live in Tucson, our goal was that both elephants who had spent the majority of their lives together, stay together. It was the AZA all along who wanted to tear their bond apart. The tragic downfall and death of Connie, in my opinion, was part heartbreak, as she and Shaba were separated at the San Diego Zoo. The activists here wanted both of them to be retired together to an elephant sanctuary called PAWS.
I was in one of those “zoo opposition groups” and what was said above on February 8th by the SD Zoo is a FLAT OUT LIE. How infuriating, but I don’t know why I’m surprised…nothing but lies from Reid Park and San Diego regarding us and the situation w/ Connie and Shaba, where we saw their stories changed multiple times as convenient.
Our goal was to retire Connie and Shaba TOGETHER at PAWS Sanctuary,. PAWS was even going to build a habitat at the sanctuary specifically for the two for this very purpose! We even had funding.
Thank you so much for the great update on how Shaba’s introductions are going. We missed Shaba and Connie very much here in Tucson but have also LOVED getting to know our new herd from the Safari Park. It’s so nice to hear that Shaba is doing well with the other ellie ladies! As sad as it was to see Connie and Shaba leave our zoo I for one am greatful that they left when they did. Otherwise Shaba would have been left an “only” elllie at our zoo. Please continue taking great care of our girl.
Wonderful story about Shaba’s new life. I guess Mary realized she was basically an orphan after her adoptive mom Connie passed away. Thank you so much for all the time and love you all give to all these ellies.
“…Then it was Devi’s turn. It was going to be interesting, because Devi had, in the past, gone after the new elephants with a reckless abandon. This never worked out for her, but she tried. When she was put into the group of Mary, Sumithi, and Shaba, Devi was immediately on the defensive. She ran right away from Shaba, who wasn’t sure how to react. No elephant had ever run from her before! Shaba slowly worked her way over to Devi and touched her, and Devi submitted right away. Shaba then spent the next several weeks getting to know Devi, standing next to her, eating from the same spot, and if one of the other elephants started to chase Shaba, she would seek Devi out and use her as a comfort zone…”
So they’re like “Shaba, you outrank me” “no Devi, *you* outrank *me*”? Heh.
Is there an information page about the Zoo elephants similar to the fact section for the Safari Park elephants? It would be interesting to read more about each of them.
Moderator’s note: http://www.elephantodyssey.com/elephants/
I guess it is true what the Safari Park said about Luti. He is bigger and stronger than the other boys. The last few days he has found a new sparring partner and her name is Khosi. Being 3 years younger and about a thousand pounds or more lighter he can certainly give Khosi a run for her money. Luti is as strong as an ox.
Thanks for keeping us up to date on Shaba! Glad she has not only her new herd in San Diego, but the care and concern of the people too! Tucson misses her and wishes her well.
Thank you Ron for letting us know how Shaba is doing. Great to hear that she is integrating well with the group. Being a friend of Matriarch Mary is a good thing!! I’m happy to hear that they even spend night’s together. Yayyyy on a job well done with the introductions!
Comments are placed at the end of the newest blog. Do you know it is possible to see blogs that date back to January 7, 2009? You can see blogs that cover the births of Ingadze (3-13-2009), Lutsundvor (2-14-2010), Macembay (4-12-2010), Emanti (5-12-2010), and all the way up to the newest Qinisa.
The way you can do this is by selecting the latest blogs, move the slider that is over on the right edge of this page from the top to the bottom and on the bottom on the left side will be the word OLDER. Click on the word OLDER and start exploring a new set of blogs you may not have seen before. to get to even older blogs, just move the slider on the right edge from the top to the bottom again, and click on the word OLDER. There are 9 sets of OLDER entries. To see Ingadze, you would have to go back all 9 sets of OLDER entries.
A picture of Ingadze, Khosi, and Umngani is under a blog dated March 20, 2009.
Baby Elephant
Naming EMANTI was a spectacular video done by Curtis Lehman. http://bcove.me/t37dhlqi
Very special to view in retrospect! Thanks for pointing us to it.
Hi, Gram in St. Louis. Because our paths have crossed a few times, I hope they will allow me to tell you that today, February 15, 2013, is our 64th wedding anniversary. Thanks for telling me you enjoyed the Naming of EMANTI blog. I think it is the best one Curtis Lehman has ever done.
Congratulations, Ron and Mrs. Stillwell!!! If my parents had lived, they would be celebrating their 64th this year. If everything goes as planned, I will be in San Diego next February, and stay overnight in one of the tents and then visit the elephants behind the scenes. I know it is the rainy season, but that is when my son and daughter can join me. I will wave to you on the cam! Thank you for sharing and I hope you had a good time with many happy memories of your life together.
February is a rainy season, yes. Hope you have at least a week because only a couple of days are likely to be really wet and then the sun finds its way back out again.
Happy 3rd St. Valentines Birthday Luti ! Hope you have a great party with plenty of tasty treats !
February 18, 2010, has a picture of Lutsundvor at birth.
Do you have a magical way to bring the picture of Lutsundvor to the screen the same way you brought the picture of Ingadze on the February 13 comment?
Moderator’s note: Here’s the post: New Elephant to Love.
I am learning a great deal about elephants as I seek out new information about these amazing animals. Does anyone know about the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee? My heart broke several times reading some of the stories of the animals who have gone there. I do hope these (and other future elephants) can find some good care in their final days. Another location to put on my wish list of places to visit…
Ron, I was wondering if Mary is ever aggressive with the elephant keepers or just the other female elephants?
Mary has had no aggressive behavior toward keepers to my knowledge. She actively seeks out keeper interactions.
Has Tembo gotten used to Shaba now? I think being around another african elephant is really good for her.