Elephant Calves Measure Up
Posted at 3:04 pm January 7, 2009 by Emily Rothwell
Umngani and her daugher, Khosi
In the wild, the age of young elephants (less than 15 years old) can be determined by the size of the footprint they leave behind in the dirt. The front-to-back length of the footprint (the print is shaped like a tear drop) is related to height, and both footprint length and height are related to age. It has been very useful to researchers to be able to determine age of calves in the wild in this way because it does not require any unnatural disturbance. Researchers can simply watch where a calf leaves a footprint, and when the animals have moved on, measure the print left behind in the dirt.
We wanted to compare the footprints of our calves with elephant footprints found in the wild, so we could see how growth in zoos compares with wild growth. All of our elephants are trained to walk onto a scale once a week and stand still while weights are recorded. We wet the scale before each calf entered and we then called them to walk across dry concrete with wet feet, leaving clear footprints behind after their weigh in. We were able to measure these after each calf was released back into the yard for afternoon play.
As it turns out, our calves are growing at the same rate as calves in the wild. For example, two-year-old calves in the wild have footprints that fall between 8.5 and 9.3 inches (21.8 and 23.7 centimeters). Our two-year-old calves, Impunga and Kamile, had footprints that were 9.4 and 9 inches (24 and 23 centimeters), thus falling within or close to the expected range. Both Musi and Khosi followed this same pattern. Our calves are growing very steadily; in November, Kamile weighed 1,030 pounds (467 kilograms), Punga 1,338 pounds (607 kilograms), Khosi 1,561 pounds (708 kilograms), and Musi a whopping 3,384 pounds (1535 kilograms)! Although our young males are getting bigger, they will remain with their family at the Wild Animal Park for the coming years. Because animals can’t be weighed in the wild, we will be comparing the growth in weight with the footprint size as they get older. However, so far it looks like our calves are growing bigger and heavier by the day!
The new elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, Elephant Odyssey, is still on schedule to open in early summer of this year. None of the African elephants at the Wild Animal Park will be relocating, but the Park’s Asian elephants will find a new, large and comfortable home in Elephant Odyssey.
Emily Rothwell is a Heller Fellow Research Associate with the San Diego Zoo’s Behavioral Biology Division. Read her previous elephant blog, Sound the Alarm!
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January 7th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
What will happen to the Asian elephant exhibit at the Park after the current residents move to the Zoo?
January 7th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Emily, Thanks for answering my questions, and for the fascinating update on the elephant calves. We look forward to hearing more about the new Elephant Odyssey and the Asian elephants who will inhabit it. In addition to the Asian elephants already living at SDZ, while more be joining them from the ones that live at WAP? My guess is yes from the way you worded your explanation of who would be living there. I loved reading the painting tales and stories about the walking laps and other personality traits of the Asian elephants at the SDZ. As I recall there are only two at the SDZ now, how many will there be in Elephant Odyssey when it is finished?
January 7th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Thanks for your blog, Emily. Your footprinting seems a very sensible and creative way to measure growth in your young and growing herd. If they were to imprint in non-toxic paint, you might have a very creative and desireable item to sell on the ZSSD’s website or in its gift shops!
All of us zoophiles are eagerly awaiting the opening of the Elephant Odyssey and greeting the Park’s Asian elephant herd. We’ve been been watching bits of the construction from the Skyfari and Eagle Hill areas. It looks like things are moving along very smoothly!
January 8th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Very interesting report about the growth of the baby elephants. Thank you.
#2 Margaret – When we went to the WAP over the holidays, we were told they are not having the elephant show now because they are training all of the Asian elephants for their move to the Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey. Apparently, they don’t want to confuse them by asking them to do the show behaviors while teaching them to do new things.
Agree with Shirley – can’t wait for the Odyssey to open!
January 8th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
The “little” Kamile is already over 1,000 lb? Wow!
So interesting to learn about the footprints.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
any breeding plans this year? when will lungile be healthy enough to breed again?
January 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your questions and continued interest in our elephants! Here are some answers I can provide.
When Elephant Odyssey opens this spring it will hold a total of eight elephants. These will include the three elephants currently at the San Diego Zoo (two Asian elephants and one African elephant) and the five Asian elephants relocating there from the the Wild Animal Park.
After the Asian elephants are relocated to Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo, their current yard at the Wild Animal Park will eventually be incorporated into the existing African elephant yard, giving our growing African elephant herd nearly 6 acres of space!
Also, using non-toxic paint to take the footprints is an excellent suggestion. We have tried this method before and the colorful paint can be new and alarming to the animals. Even Swazi avoided walking through a puddle of it on the floor in the barn! Therefore, we used water to take the calf footprints because they are obviously familiar with it.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I love hearing about the elephants! and you parse out the blogs about them so sparingly that when I see one I consider the day to be great!
How about using shades of brown or gray non-toxic paint for the footstep pics?
Although, doesn’t one of the elephants at San Diego actually paint?
Moderator’s note: The three elephants at the Zoo have been trained to paint. Their keeper wrote a blog series about them at http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wordpress/default/zoo-elephants-meet-smitty/
January 11th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I was at he WAP on Friday Jan 9th and saw more interaction between the family than I had seen in a long time. They where really enjoying each other, and even Lungille got treats. It’s great ro watch the babies grow up!!!
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Emily,
Will the one African elephant currently residing at SDZ continue to be in contact with the Asian elephants joining them? I ask because it is my understanding that after the death of the calf at NZP it was discovered that Asian and African elephants can not be housed together because African elephants carry “a novel herpes virus that causes a hemorrhagic (bleeding) disease in elephants.”…”There are two forms of EEHV. One form is latent (doesn’t cause disease) in African elephants, but causes the fatal disease in Asian elephants; the other form causes the disease in African elephants. Asian elephants may be infected with EEHV when they come into contact with African elephants, although there have also been cases in Asian elephants that have not been exposed to African elephants.”
If the plan is to create a “herd” at the SDZ of Asian elephants, will the lone African elephant be moved to WAP to be near the intact “family” of African elephants or will it eventually be moved to another facility? I would hate to have SDZ lose a calf like NZP did, and other facilities that weren’t aware of the issue until the research and necropsis was done to discover the cause of the sudden death of the calf.
For anyone who wants to know more, check out the elephant site at National Zoological Park and article under “Study” on “Tracking an Elephant Killer.” It is a sad story but very interesting and educational information.
Public Relations responds: The San Diego Zoo’s elephant herd is not a breeding group. Most of the elephants that will live in the new Elephant Odyssey habitat are past their reproductive age. The Zoo’s staff makes informed decisions on the care of animals based on new scientific information and will keep results such as these in the forefront when deciding how to care for its animals.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Hi, you all! I know that this will not be about the SDZ’s elephants, but I do have some great news about another elephant at another zoo that will bring a huge smile to every elephant fan’s face! I checked the Memphis Zoo’s website to look in on the pandas, and I found a new update from the elephant keepers about Asali, their African elephant. Asali is definitely pregnant, and the keepers are expecting her to have her baby elephant calf sometime in July, 2009! She should be going into her third trimester of her pregnancy by now. This will be Memphis Zoo’s first baby elephant in their history, so keep your fingers crossed, do a lot of praying for Asali, ok? The one thing that we do not want to hear about is anything going wrong with Asali which was what happened at Atlanta Zoo when they lost Dottie and her baby elephant due to possible pnuemonia just a few months ago. So, the countdown begins with Asali towards the birth of her baby in July!
BTW, there has not been any further news about the results of the animal necropsy tests on Dottie since the first news of the preliminary report a couple of months ago or so. I’ll try to check with AZ to find out what really caused Dottie’s passing.
That said, we have this newest elephant baby coming soon in Memphis to look forward to, and I know that they are very excited about that! The keepers and vets will be very busy doing ultrasounds on Asali, monitoring her diet, keeping her exercised, and making the necessary vet checks on her overall health in the next 5 months. We will all be pulling for Asali to have a safe delivery this summer!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
February 16th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Columbus Zoo in Ohio is expecting a baby Asian Elephant calf next month!
February 17th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Hi! Just got on the elephant cam to see the elephants, but the cam is only showing a pile of wood! The cam was like this a couple of days ago when I looked in on it then. What’s up? The cam is working real good, but there are no elephants being shown on it! Will you please let us know what is going on with the cam? I would like to see the elephants alot more than seeing the pile of wood!
Thanks,
Chari Mercier :}
St. Pete, FL
Moderator’s note: We’ve adjusted the view.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Hey, Taylor (#12)! Will you do us a favor? Please let us know when the momma Asian elephant has her baby elephant calf, ok? We all want to know!! Will try to get on the Columbus Zoo website to check on any updates as well!
Thanks,
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Thanks for adjusting the elephant cam! Was able to see ELEPHANTS on the cam today!!
March 14th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
have not been able to see the elephants for a while but looked in today{march 14,2009} and what do i see ? am my eyes seeing something? did we have another baby. that certainly looks likeUmgani and Khosi and a tiny one.
Moderator’s note: A baby was indeed born! Visit our What’s New? section for some great photos of the little guy.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/whatsnew/