Comments on: How Far Do Elephants Walk in One Day?

By: Betsy

Betsy — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:29:46 +0000

Thanks so much for all your blogs and the info on them. I have a question. It is Sunday the 5th of October and one of the baby elephants is in the circle that is fenced in with doors that open when someone opens it . There is a baby in there and the mother is outside,how long till the door is open so the baby can get to its mother? It is 6:25 and it has been in there for a while. Is there water in there to drink for the baby? I worry if the baby is nursing. Thanks Betsy in PA

By: justin

justin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:26:22 +0000

so that how they walck ion one day

By: nancy from michigan

nancy from michigan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:25:34 +0000

interesting information always! lots of credit to chari mercier of st. pete floridafor the mountains of research and information, and questions. you are truly a devoted animal zoo lover. you should have gone
into a career field that has something to do with animals! this remark is a compliment chari! I get a kick out of reading your remarks on the elephants, the polar bears, and of course, the beloved panda bears. you always seem to know where to find all the information and web sites that are available to us. thanks! you must spend alot of time discovering so much information and ask questions about the things you can’t find.
kudos to you. by the way I love st. pete. I read all the blogs with pleasure. nancy

By: Chari Mercier

Chari Mercier — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:15:26 +0000

Hi, elephant lovers! How are things with all of the elephants at WAP? Anything new about Umngani’s pregnancy and if Swazi has a chance of being pregnant? Let us know about them and about the 3 youngest calves, ok?
Well, got some bad news to tell you about Shanthi, the Asian elephant at the National Zoo that had 2 AI procedures done back in Jan., 2008. SHANTHI IS NOT PREGNANT! BUMMER!!! I sure was hoping that she would have another baby elephant in late 2009/early 2010, but that won’t be the case right now. Hopefully, they will try again later on this year or early next year. I guess it’s back to the drawing board for the elephant keepers and the vets. Her first elephant baby, Kandula (born in Nov., 2001), is now close to 7 years old and is becoming pretty independent now. He was the miracle birth for Shanthi, the mom! NZ’s elephant staff is working towards establishing an Asian elephant herd at the zoo, and Shanthi’s nonpregnancy makes this the 2nd straight year that the AI procedures did not work. They are also building an expanded, new elephant habitat called Elephant Trails that is due to be completed by 2011. They have another female elephant named Akimba(?), and she’ll be celebrating 60 years old this month. They’re planning a big birthday party for her.
Well, gonna go and get back to watching pandacams. There is a momma panda named Mei Xiang that could be very close to having a baby panda cub if everything works out right! Been watching her alot over several days on the NZ cams.
Let us know what’s up with all of the elephants, and the results of the walking study that you are doing.
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL

By: Taylor

Taylor — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:19:01 +0000

Does the Wild Animal Park use a free contact system or a protected contact system when working with the elephants?? I am just curious to know.

Moderator’s note: We use a protected contact system and positive reinforcement training when working with our elephants and many other species at both the Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo.

By: Chari Mercier

Chari Mercier — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:07:36 +0000

Hi, you all! Thanks for getting us updated about the elephant herd and the interesting walking study that you are doing on the elephants. I’m surprised that you chose Moose to wear the collar! He looks like that he’s a little bit on the rambunctious side from what I’ve read about him in past updates. I guess being the biggest brother gave him honor of being the guinea pig for this project! Let us know what you were able to get from the walking data. You answered some of the questions, but you didn’t say anything new about the 3 young calves–Khosi, Punga, Kamile. I know that Kamile’s one year birthday is coming up this September. Hope that you will get some pics of her birthday party up on the picture gallery! The picture gallery is still missing pics of Punga’s first birthday and Moose’s 3rd birthday. We also would like for you to update the 3 calves profiles and pics. The info on those 3 calves are a little bit outdated! Hoping that Umngani is pregnant again, and I’m hoping that Swazi will become pregnant soon. I’m also wondering whether you will let Lungile get pregnant again after losing her calf earlier this year. I do hope that you and the vets were able to diagnose why Lungile was not able to produce enough milk for her calf. Maybe once you all have those answers, you can be able to help Lungile in some way so that she will have enough milk for her next calf. That will be a huge plus if you all can do that for her!
For all of the elephant fans out there, Atlanta Zoo and Memphis Zoo will be having elephant babies sometime in 2009. Both zoos have Asian female elephants, and both of the girls–one from each zoo–are now pregnant! Memphis will be having their first baby elephant ever in their 102 year history! Both zoos are very excited about their momma elephants! National Zoo’s African elephant, Shanthi, had 2 AI procedures done in Jan., 2008, and they are waiting to see whether that took or not and whether Shanthi is pregnant. Will probably hear something about that news by this fall when they finally do an ultrasound on her. If she is pregnant, they will be expecting Shanthi to have her baby elephant by late 2009/early 2010. Keep your fingers crossed, do some praying for Shanthi, you all! NZ is also in the middle of totally redoing their elephant habitats called Elephant Trails for the last year and a half. It is scheduled to be totally done by late 2010 or sometime in 2011. They did have 3 elephant cams online, but they are offline right now due to the construction. I’m hoping that they will have those cams back on before Shanthi has her baby! This will be Shanthi’s 2nd baby elephant if she is pregnant; she had Kandula in 2001 who will be 7 years old this November.
Well, gonna go. I also have been doing some panda watching on the cams lately. NZ’s panda, Mei Xiang, and Atlanta’s panda, Lun Lun, maybe pregnant, so all of us pandafans are hoping for baby pandas in the next week or so!
BYE!!!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:09:31 +0000

Thanks for the update !

By: Joan

Joan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:48:24 +0000

Thank you so much for the update! It’s great to know Lungile has recuperated and is feeling well. We bloggers become quite attached to our animals and truly look forward to the updates.

By: george Middleton

george Middleton — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:37:06 +0000

When will the Asin Elephants move to the Zoo and after that how long will it be before the African elephants can ” spread out”

Moderator’s note: We don’t have an exact date yet, but the Asian elephants will move to the Zoo prior to the opening of the Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey habitat, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2009.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:41:08 +0000

Can we expect another pregnancy from Ndula either?