Playful Pachyderms
Posted at 11:15 am April 25, 2007 by Fred Bercovitch and Jeff Andrews
Windows Media video | Quicktime video
What a couple of rambunctious youngsters!! Have you ever seen a couple of baby elephants frolicking about? They are quite fun to watch”¦and a lot like children.
Khosi, our female calf born on September 11, 2006, has a new playmate, named ” Impunga,” or Punga for short, who was born on March 11, 2007. Our first calf, Vus’musi, or Moose, is over three years old and, while he is still a baby, he’s growing fast and plays less often than the two infants. You can watch the two babies playing from the Wild Animal Park’s Elephant Overlook or the Elephant Viewing Patio near Tembo Stadium. In case you can’t come to the Park, you can get an idea of their playfulness by clicking on the video clip links above. It’s sort of funny to watch because when it looks like the going might be getting a bit rough for the smaller Punga, his mom comes over to comfort him, while Khosi turns around and adopts a ” Who me?” sort of look and posture. She doesn’t want to get in trouble for being too rough with her new playmate.
Of course, she isn’t too rough and the two of them are just having a ball playing throughout the day. Little do they know they have two more playmates on the way. Sometime before the end of the year, we’re expecting Umoya and Lungile to give birth. We have plenty of room for all of these animals in our herd and are extremely pleased that we have been able to increase our herd size and watch the group bond together.
We’ve been pretty busy with the two babies, so haven’t had a chance to answer some of the questions you’ve raised. Sorry about that, but here are a few tidbits:
- With each birth, we learn something new and are trying to create a social environment allowing the babies to grow up as if they were living in Africa. That’s why the calves are being introduced to the herd earlier now than when Moose was born.
- Males don’t start pursuing females until they are at least 15 years old, so Moose will be living with us for quite some time. Mabu is probably going to stay as the dominant bull for many years.
- Elephants are extremely smart and their calls do mean something to each other. But we aren’t sure what they mean. One reason that we are making recordings of elephant sounds is that by documenting their conversations, we can try to get some insights into their lives and then use this information to improve the quality of life in captivity.
- We have not artificially inseminated any of the females. All of the calves were produced by natural matings. Mabu is the father of all of the babies, except for Moose.
- We were able to film the birth of both Khosi and Impunga, but because the births occurred when it was still dark, and we concentrated on making sure that the mother and baby were doing fine, the quality of the videotape is not the best.
Fred Bercovitch is head of the CRES Division of Behavioral Biology; Jeff Andrews is the Wild Animal Park’s Elephant Animal Care Manager
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April 25th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Fred and Jeff, how cute are they, I always enjoy watching the babies, their legs go every which and their ears well they just flap in the breeze. thanks for the video clip it brought a smile to my face. hope for more updates soon. oh one question when is the other baby due. thanks again.
April 25th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
can you guys post the footage anyway, i’d love to see the birth of them
April 25th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Thanks for the update! They are too adorable! I love how Khosi plays with little Punga. I remember when Khosi was born, she was just a widdle bundle of legs and ears herself! Thanks for all the care you give these precious animals…and the great knowledge!
April 26th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Thanks, Fred and staff. I always enjoy watching the babies when I can catch a glimpse of them on the cam. I notice that Punga doesn’t get far without his mom coming up to check on him. I have not had a chance to see the two babies playing live on camera, but keep hoping my timing will be better.
Please keep us updated on their antics and growth.
Do they react any differently to Musi than to the adults? Since he is smaller, although he may not be as playful as they are, he might be more interesting to them.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Can you write an article all about the new baby, talking about introducing to the heard, weight, size ect.
I am very happy for you. 3 calves in 3 years and 2 more to come!!!!! WOW!!!! You must make zoos very jealous.
Who is the father to MOOSE?
April 26th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Looks like Khosi is eating well. You can really tell how much she has grown when you see her next to Punga. It is amazing how quickly an elephant grows in 6 months. If you see either of the elephant calves next to an adult, other than Musi, you can tell a huge difference. Sometimes when they are walking across the open expanse of the mesa, it almost looks like the calves are an appendage of their mother they are so close and so comparatively small.
Do Khosi and Punga eat any grain or grass, or does most of their nourishment still come from mom’s milk? At what age are elephants weaned from milk to ” real food?”
April 26th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
How cute is that video clip! Thanks for posting it. It’s great to see the youngsters have so much fun. And Mom, she’s properly protective of her little boy. Observing them in such a positive social environment is great. Congratulations on all the successes with the pachyderms.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Thank you so much! the babies are so cute and love to see them.
April 28th, 2007 at 7:30 am
Why is there never any blogs on your asian elephants. How many do you have? Have you had any babies? Where did you get them from? Are any asian elephants pregnant? Did you rescue them like your african elephants? Why isn’t there an asian elephant cam? Are they smaller than africans?
SORRY FOR ALL THE QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!
April 30th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Please Answer My Questions!!
May 9th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Thank you very much for posting this video of your two adorable babies Khoai and Punga! I’ve eagerly read the news about them since they were born and I always look forward to updates about them. I can hardly wait for the day when I can finally see them in person!
May 10th, 2007 at 6:12 am
Everytime I look at the photo of Khosi and Punga I laugh. Khosi sure has put on weight in her first 6 months. She ” towers” over him, and she looks very well fed. Her ” tummy” looks typically baby round.
May 25th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I find it interesting that Khosi seems to spend a great deal of time with Punga and his mother. I don’t often see her mother nearby. Is she just not in view of the camera, or is she not concerned because Khosi is older, and is near Punga’s mother who would also provide protection to her?
September 11th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Hi, Jeff! Got a bone to pick with you!! We have not had an update about Khosi and Punga since April, 2007!! What’s been going on with these 2 kids? Today’s Khosi’s birthday, 9/11/2007—ONE YEAR OLD!!
Punga is six months old today, also! But, we have no written updates about either one of them since April. The profile box about Pungs is totally incomplete and has not been updated since he was born, and Khosi’s needs a little bit of an update, also. Anyway you can get all of this caught up about the 2 baby elephants for us? We will greatly appreciate it a lot! Hope you read these comments. I know how busy you all are with all of these elephants to take care, but please keep us better informed, ok? I’ve check the elephant cam off and on to see if I can catch Khosi and Punga with their moms and playing together. Haven’t had much luck seeing them lately. Anyway, please give us alot of updates and pics on these 2 elephants. Will appreciate it alot!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Moderator’s note: Two photos from Khosi’s first birthday will post in the Elephant Gallery at 3 p.m. today http://al.sandiegozoo.com/news/gallery_baby-elephant.html
September 20th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Congratulations on the new baby elephant! We look forward to seeing pictures and hearing about the new arrival as well updates on Khosi and Punga soon.
Moderator’s note: An iZoofari Chat about our new baby is now posted at http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress2/2007/uncategorized/izoofari-chat-elephant-baby-at-the-wild-animal-park/