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Elephants

78

Elephant Treat Time

By
Mindy Albright
– January 16, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Elephants, Uncategorized

An elephant play session.

An elephant play session.

One of our Elephant Cam viewers, Erin, mentioned that one of the best times to watch is when we keepers walk along the edge of the main yard with our buckets full of tasty pellets—elephant chow, as it were. Erin wondered if the elephants rumble or trumpet during this time?

This is a very exciting time for the elephants and for their keepers, and it is a true example of the relationship we have with them and just how well they work with their keepers. It’s a lot of work to move 13 elephants around more than 6 acres, 4 barns, 4 holding yards, and 2 big yards, so it’s a good thing they like us!

For the most part, the elephants are usually pretty quiet during moves. However, there is some noise if the youngsters get separated from their mothers; Mom usually stays with the keeper and just rumbles back to her calf to let him or her know where she is. There may be some trumpets or rumbles if a dominant elephant comes up behind a subdominant one and startles them.

I’m glad you all enjoy watching the excitement on Elephant Cam!

Mindy Albright is a lead keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read her previous post, Elephant Calf Learns the Ropes.

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97

Elephant Vus’Musi

By
Curtis Lehman
– August 22, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Elephants, Uncategorized

Here’s Musi as a two year old.

While we here at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park wait for Swazi’s second calf to arrive, let’s focus on Vus’musi (Musi). He is 8½ years old now and is a growing subadult, weighing around 5,600 pounds (2,540 kilograms). With his #1 play pal, Lungile, now over at the Reid Park Zoo in Arizona, Musi spends most of his playtime with adult male Msholo. Lately, Musi’s been trying to usurp adult female Umngani’s ranking over him, and when he’s with his mom, Ndlula, he pretty much has the upper hand. When his mom is separated out, he cautiously tests his hierarchy status without her. Remember, these are wild animals with normal, wild-animal behavior.

For more than eight years, Umngani has been able to displace Musi at will when he’s been away from his mom; but Musi isn’t little anymore, and he’s just going to get bigger and bigger. Umngani has a history of always backing down when push comes to shove (with Mabu, Ndlula, Msholo, and now Musi somewhat). We know she’s the main protector of her clan (children Khosi, Ingadze, and Neepo), as well as of youngsters Kami and Emanti, so we’d like to see her not lose her rank to Musi, but the inevitability of it all is unfolding before everyone’s eyes.

Managing an ever-changing herd of African elephants is a tough and educating challenge. There are not many institutions that have this many elephants—calves, adult females, and an adult bull—hanging out together every day. We use our ability to separate them into whatever social set up we want to lessen aggression toward each other while still trying to allow our entire herd being together most of the time. We’ve separated Ndlula and her younger son, Luty, out overnight once so far, and it got us the desired effect: Musi wasn’t assertive toward Umngani for a couple of days. These animal-management decisions are well thought out, mostly dependent on what we observe daily with their behavior. It’s still only delaying the inevitable of Musi outranking Umngani someday.

There’s a lot more involved with what we do socially with the elephants, too much to write down here. Just know we also don’t want anything to go as far as an injury, but we are talking elephants here. We pretty much let them work out their own hierarchy, their own breeding, and their own raising of their families. We could always place them in the safest scenarios to have the least chance of any elephant being aggressed upon, but that would mean having every elephant separated in a different yard with just a mom and her youngest calf together. Not much of a herd, right?

Musi’s not at breeding age, but he’s right at the age where he may have been kicked out of the herd if our elephants were in the wild under a true matriarchal society, so I’d like to think he’s at an awkward age where he’s testing everything socially. Think teenager. Eventually, we might have to place him with Msholo to start our first bachelor herd, which will be something new for us as well. Just think what fun we’ll have in six years when all the boys will be around Musi’s age now!

Curtis Lehman is an animal care manager at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read his previous post, Elephant Swazi Update: Baby Due?

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16

Zoo Elephants: Ranchipur

By
Ron Ringer
– April 9, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Elephants

Ranchipur: Boys will be boys!

The San Diego Zoo’s male Asian elephant, Ranchipur, is a striking individual with a really good temperament. He cooperates with his keepers and allows us to take care of him on a daily basis. Many zoos across the country have males that are much more aggressive and difficult to work with because…they are male elephants!

It is not unusual for male Asian elephants to be in a period of heightened hormonal activity called musth. This is a time in a male’s life where he has lots of testosterone coursing through his body, and it really affects his mood and personality. This period can last from 2 to 12 months.

Ranchipur usually comes into musth around the end of July to the beginning of August. He first arrived at the Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey from our Safari Park in April 2009. He was quick to explore all of our yards and pools. Ranchipur showed signs of his first musth here at the end of July that year, and it lasted for about two months, but he continued to cooperate with the keepers, and we were able to care for him as we do for all of our elephants.

In 2010, for some reason, he did not come into musth. This was too bad, because we were hoping for the weight loss that usually accompanies musth. At one point he actually tipped the scale at almost 12,980 pounds (5,900 kilograms). That is too much to weigh for a 45-year-old elephant who has some hip problems. After his previous musth, he had lost almost 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms).

Since he didn’t come into musth, we had to try something else to get the weight off. He usually spent the nights with one of the females, but he also ate all of her food! We decided to start separating them at night to make sure each ate his or her own diet. Over the next several months Ranchipur did start to lose weight but was still pretty heavy. On July 28, 2011, he started to give off that familiar smell that is associated with musth. Then the tell-tale signs occurred: he started dribbling urine and secreting a foul-smelling substance from the temporal glands on each side of his head. At this point it was all we could do to transfer him between his exhibit and the one next door for cleaning. His appetite decreased to nothing, and he basically stared at the girls all day.

One day we decided to put our African elephant, Tembo, next to him to see his reaction. Usually he is scared of her and runs away. On this day he did turn and run, but then he dashed back. The two of them sparred for awhile, and then Tembo left. Ranchi was no longer afraid of her; in fact, he was quite interested in her. Off and on for the next three months we would put Tembo next to him, and he was right there to see her, but she ignored him. On October 21, we noticed that he was no longer dribbling urine or secreting from his temporal glands. Could his musth be over? To make sure, we put Tembo next to him, and, as before, he turned and ran from her. What happens during musth must stay in musth, because he doesn’t remember a thing!

Ranchipur is slowly coming back into his normal routine, and we were able to get a weight on him. He had lost 490 kilograms from his last weight in June. That is almost 1,000 pounds! He now weighs just a bit over 11,000 pounds (500 kilograms), which is a nice weight for him.

Ron Ringer is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous post, Zoo Elephants: Queen Mary.

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240

Elephant Moves

By
Jeff Andrews
– March 7, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Elephants, Uncategorized

Elephants Connie (in front) and Shaba at their new home at the San Diego Zoo.

Many people have been asking why we conducted such a large-scale, multi-zoo, multi-elephant transfer. It is an appropriate question. This operation has been in planning for several years. It begins with the original rescue of the elephant herd from a scheduled cull in Swaziland back in 2003. Our plan was to prevent the elephants from being killed, to protect the land and help other species by removing the elephants, and to improve the reproductive potential of African elephants in North American zoos. We succeeded in all three.

When the African elephant breeding program at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park started becoming successful, we began to consider how to best manage a growing population. We wanted to maintain female calves with their mothers for life and male calves until adolescence; this is natural in the wild, but not the norm in zoo populations. Typically in the wild, if a herd becomes too numerous it will split down matrilineal lines, and new bulls will sire future offspring. To do the same, we needed to identify a zoo that could be the recipient of roughly half of our herd’s females, their offspring, and the most appropriate bull. This facility needed to have a state-of-the-art facility, well-trained staff, appropriate climate, management program that mirrored the one our elephants were already used to, and be relatively close to San Diego. The Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona, worked very hard over several years to meet those criteria.

We chose to send to Reid Park a breeding group of elephants to their brand-new elephant facility and receive from them their two elephants, Connie and Shaba, into our Elephant Odyssey facility at the San Diego Zoo, where we specialize in caring for older elephants.
The selection of the best animals to send to the Reid Park Zoo was very difficult, and not just because of the close relationship we have developed with all of them. The decision had to balance various factors: who created the best social group in Tucson and in San Diego, what demographic and genetic factors were most important, and who are the best trained elephants in the herd. In the end, the decision was made to send Mabu, Lungile, Litsemba and her two calves, five-year-old Impunga and one-year-old Tsandzikle (Sundzu). This move was made in the best interest of the individual elephants and for the species as a whole.

Now that the transfer is complete, we hope that more African elephant calves will be born at both facilities combined than would have been born at just the San Diego Zoo Safari Park if the move hadn’t occurred. All of this effort is, of course, simply to ensure the survival of this amazing species.

Jeff Andrews is an associate curator of mammals for San Diego Zoo Global. Read his previous post, How Far Do Elephants Walk in One Day?

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2

Elephants: The Ebb and Flow of Thirsty Giants

By
Michael Chase
– January 17, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Elephants, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

One of my favorite places in Botswana is the Savuti Channel, located in the heart of Chobe National Park, not only because of its unpredictable water flow, but because it is an intermittent elephant refuge. I first visited the Savuti when I was eight years old, while on safari with my parents. Back then, the river sparkled, teeming with catfish, huge crocodiles, and pods of territorial hippos. The river provided cool relief for the wildlife, while the Savuti Marsh provided fields of life-giving grasses for ungulates. I was most impressed by the large herds of elephants, buffalo, zebras, and wildebeest blithely making their way through another day, while predators waited patiently, hiding among the thick shrubs along the marsh. We were camping in a safari paradise.

While at boarding school, I read that in 1982 the Savuti Channel was dry! I did not understand then that for the past 170 years, the Savuti River had an erratic, unpredictable flow. Today, the reasons that result from this unpredictable ebb and flow still remain unclear, and scientists have suggested that tectonic rather than hydrological factors may be at the root of this phenomenon. Where would the elephants go during these dry spells? Much of the wildlife moved on to “greener pastures,” and soon the area became a paradise lost. The stark pictures in magazine articles of the secretive works of nature convinced me that I needed to investigate this ancient mystery. I returned in 2001, this time for the meaningful purpose of pursuing my doctorate in elephant ecology.

Family groups of elephants were gone, only visiting the Savuti on their 100-mile treks to the Kwando River on the Namibian border. However, large elephant bulls had made the Savuti their safe haven, seeking refuge at the artificial waterholes the Botswana government had sunk into the parched landscape to provide water for wildlife. The intense smell of fresh, deep water brought up from deep below the Kalahari sand proved to be too tempting for the thirsty giants, which wandered into unsafe territories surrounding Chobe. Savuti became world renowned for its massive, old bulls, which became tolerant of pachyderm fans seeking to see these lords of the African savanna in close proximity.

Finally, in 2008, water unexpectedly began to appear in the Savuti Channel. The following year, there was much excitement and anticipation on how far the water would flow. Many people, including myself, made journeys specifically to see just how far the water would flow. By 2010, the Savuti River was a flowing river, spilling its waters onto the Savuti Marsh after a 28-year dry spell!

Mike attaches a radio collar to track an African elephant's movements.

Fortunately for me, the timing of this flood was perfect, as I had recently secured funds and permission to conduct an aerial survey to count elephants and other large herbivores throughout northern Botswana. I was amazed to see that the Savuti had been rejuvenated. Massive numbers of elephants amassed on the marsh. Buffalo had returned after many years of absence. I realized then that my understanding of elephant ecology had to span longer than my brief five-year doctorate study. Nearly 30 years after my first camping trip in Savuti, I deployed two satellite collars on adult elephant cows and one on a bull to better reveal the movements of elephants in this dynamic environment. I might have to wait another few decades to see where they move to when the Savuti decides to dry up again. But then, at least, one of the secrets of the Savuti’s inhabitants will be revealed.

Michael Chase is the Henderson Endowed Postdoctoral Fellow for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research and the director of Elephants Without Borders.

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191

Elephant Aunts Care for Calves

By
admin
– November 22, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Elephants, Uncategorized

Kami, left, and Emanti

Four-year-old Kami and her 18-month-old brother, Emanti, are interacting with the rest of the African elephant herd at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The siblings continue to be cared for by the other females, or “aunts,” in the herd following the death of their mother, Umoya, on November 17 (see post Loss to Elephant Family). Keepers report that the two youngsters seem to be fine. Click on the link below to view Kami and Emanti with the herd.

Elephant Calves Update video

Kami has a close relationship with the other female calf in the herd, Khosi, and the two girls like to “babysit” the other elephant calves. It is very common to see Kami and Khosi together or with Umngani, who is Khosi’s mother. Umngani can often be seen surrounded by her own three calves as well as having Kami and Emanti in tow.

The siblings are continuing to grow and gain weight, and Emanti appears to have hit a growth spurt: he has gained 88 pounds in the last four days! Kami and Emanti’s diet consists of three types of hay (Bermuda, Sudan, and alfalfa) and the alfalfa-based “herbivore supplement” pellets with added minerals and vitamins that are fed to the elephants during training sessions. They are also given leafy branches of acacia and ficus to munch on each day.

Emanti and Kami’s growth and close interactions with the herd have demonstrated that, as expected, the herd is taking care of these calves as one of their own.

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22

Zoo Elephants: Queen Mary

By
Ron Ringer
– May 13, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Elephants, Uncategorized

Mary is in charge!

It has been awhile since we have written about the elephants at the San Diego Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey, so let us update you on the goings-on.

We have been continuing our introductions to try to get as many of the female elephants together as possible. There was a great breakthrough a couple of months ago when we introduced Mary to Sumithi, Devi, and Tembo. We had hopes that one of them would step up to take the reins as a matriarch within this grouping, and we weren’t disappointed! Mary made sure everyone knew right away that she was in charge.

Mary and Sumithi had been spending time with each other and seemed to be co-existing well. We just were not sure how Tembo and Devi would fit in. Mary erased all doubts the first day that we did an introduction; she came right out and exerted her dominance over the other three. Tembo put up a bit of a challenge, but it was short lived, and she quickly submitted to Mary in elephant terms, which means she turned her rear end to Mary and urinated. Mary made sure Tembo had her full attention, so she chased Tembo around the yard several times. Tembo was much too fast for the larger Mary, but Mary continued the chase for awhile.

And then Mary set her sights on Devi. Devi didn’t put up any opposition to Mary, she just ran! Mary would corner her in the pool and would use her trunk to touch, smell, and push Devi to establish her rein as queen. This went on for several weeks during the day while keepers kept close watch and videotaped the interactions. As time went by, there were less and less chasing episodes, but Mary would always take an opportunity to remind everyone who was in charge.

We are now at a point where we keep these four elephants together from about 2 p.m. to 7 a.m. almost every day. We tried introducing our oldest elephant, Cookie, who is 56 years old, to the group with hopes that Mary would keep an eye for her and protect her from the others. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. Cookie seemed uncomfortable with the group situation, and we didn’t want to cause any undo stress on her, so we removed her from the group and will try other groupings.

As it stands now, we have different groupings that are working out pretty well. During the day you will find Ranchipur and Cha Cha together in Yard 4; this is the yard closest to the corral area. Cookie and Mary are together in Yard 3, and Tembo, Devi, and Sumithi are in Yard 1. In the afternoon we move the elephants around for various reasons: in Yard 1 you will find the foursome of Mary, Tembo, Devi, and Sumithi. In Yards 2 and 3 we have Cha Cha and Cookie. That leaves Ranchipur in Yard 4 for the night. Ranchipur is by himself because he is on a diet. As of this writing, he weights in at 12,100 pounds (5,488 kilograms). We would like him somewhere around 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms). In order to achieve this goal, he has to be separate at night or else he eats everyone’s food. Since doing this, he has lost about 600 pounds (272 kilograms).

Now Cha Cha and Cookie need to maintain or gain weight, so they are together and doing well. Both seem to eat pretty well at night while sharing exhibit space; this allows Cookie to get all the food she needs, because Mary is now in with the others, and she had a tendency to eat all of Cookie’s food.

Are you following all of this? Yes, it can seem like a soap opera, so stay tuned for further updates!

Ron Ringer is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous post, Tina and Jewel Update.

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116

Park Elephants: Busy Times

By
Curtis Lehman
– January 14, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Elephants, Uncategorized

Msholo (left), uses his trunk to greet Lungile.

Due to our standard 5-week, 24-hour baby watch with our newest calf, born on December 27, we find ourselves very busy indeed! However, here’s a brief update on elephant happenings at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park:

Since we’ve had access to the West Yard (old Asian elephant yard) via new connecting gates, we’ve had all of the original African elephant herd, including their calves (even our newest calf), over to that yard. We’ve also allowed introductions of Msholo, the bull elephant that had been residing in the West Yard by himself, to four of the adult females and their calves.

All of these introductions have gone very well. The yard and the heated barn on that side have given us more flexibility and allowed the elephants to have another source of heat during this winter time. The hydraulic gates connecting the two yards have been working well. The Elephant Team is very thankful to all who made the yard connection possible.

The newest calf (the fourth in 2010) is doing great. He does an excellent job of getting around and is quite an efficient nurser. His weight recordings have followed the normal pattern of dropping about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) from birth weight and then gradually gaining every day. He’s now at 257 pounds (117 kilograms), up from a birth weight of 230 pounds (104 kilograms). He’s very cute, and he crashes within minutes of being put indoors for the night. So do we!

Curtis Lehman is an animal care manager at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read his previous post, Park Elephant Update.

Watch the Park’s herd daily on Elephant Cam.

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45

All-star Home for Tina, Jewel

By
Yadira Galindo
– October 29, 2010Posted in: Animal Stories, Elephants, More

Billy at the Los Angeles Zoo

Only two hours north of the San Diego Zoo lies Griffith Park. Tucked into a sprawling metropolitan community, the park includes a railroad museum, miniature railroad, theater, an equestrian center, and much more. It is also home to one of the San Diego Zoo’s conservation partners, the Los Angeles Zoo.

I had the opportunity to explore the Los Angeles Zoo’s new six-acre Elephants of Asia habitat that will soon be home to Tina and Jewel. As I walked through the 3.8 acres of elephant yard space, I noticed the soft river sand throughout the enclosure. Think of it as walking along the beach: it takes a little extra effort to get around, which means great exercise for the girls and for Billy, the Los Angeles Zoo’s male Asian elephant. Then I noticed one of two eight-foot deep pools that bumps right up to the sand. The sun was shining, and all I could think of was how fun it will be to watch Tina and Jewel splashing around in their own private oasis on a warm California day.

Elephants of Asia habitat at the Los Angeles Zoo

Depending on whether Tina and Jewel are in “Cambodia,” “Thailand,” “India,” or “China,” they may have the opportunity to enjoy a waterfall or water spout instead. Regardless of what geographic area they meander through, they are bound to find enrichment aplenty, and Los Angeles Zoo guests will get up-close views of the girls while learning about conservation threats to this endangered species, as well as programs underway to help protect Asian elephants.

Tina and Jewel have been at the San Diego Zoo for 14 months. They recovered from a variety of ailments under the watchful eye of San Diego Zoo keepers, veterinarians, nutritionists, and many others. These same people took a look at Los Angeles Zoo’s plans and exhibit and decided that now was the best time to send the two elephants on to the next step of their lives. Tina and Jewel have had the opportunity to interact with a couple of the San Diego Zoo’s other female elephants, but they had not yet integrated into a herd. Because of the space available for the pair to move together to the Los Angeles Zoo’s state-of-the-art elephant habitat, and the experienced elephant keepers ready to care for them, a match was made.

Billy enjoys the new waterfall.

The move will also be an opportunity to reintroduce Billy to elephants with the hope that they will become a herd. I watched Billy lumber through the yard and interact with his keeper. He splashed water and hay over himself and explored his surroundings. It was easy to picture Tina and Jewel there, perhaps enjoying the cool cascade from the 20-foot-tall waterfall. If they need a little more TLC, such as foot care, the girls will go to the state-of-the-art elephant barn, where the floors are warm to the touch and the space comfortable during inclement weather.

When the Los Angeles Zoo designed the exhibit, they were really thinking of everything, including 28 cameras pointed in every direction of the exhibit and barns. It will be a good way to monitor Tina, Jewel, and Billy as they get to know one another and their new home. I can’t wait to see them in their new digs in Los Angeles when it’s completed in December.

Using the protected contact system of elephant management, Jewel and Tina will be under the watchful eye of experienced animal care staff at the Los Angeles Zoo, who are working closely with the San Diego Zoo team to ensure that the two elephants receive the same level of care they received while in San Diego. This collaboration is one example of how San Diego Zoo animal care experts work together with zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to manage rare and endangered species like elephants. The San Diego Zoo and the Los Angeles Zoo work together along with other conservation organizations and government agencies to breed and release endangered animals like the California condor and the mountain yellow-legged frog locally.

Yadira Galindo is a senior public relations representative for the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Name the Elephant Calf!

View video of the Los Angeles Zoo’s new elephant habitat.

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51

What Name Will You Choose?

By
Yadira Galindo
– August 6, 2010Posted in: Animal Stories, Elephants, Events at the Zoo

Vote for the little guy's name!

We received 1,019 exceptional suggestions from all of you to help us name Umoya’s 3-month-old male calf. The Park’s elephant keepers reviewed each and every one of them and had quite a few chuckles along the way.

Thank you to all of those who suggested that the calf be named after themselves! And thank you to all those who offered a tie to this year’s largest sporting event, the World Cup held in South Africa. Personally, I really liked “vuvuzela,” but it sounded a bit feminine. However, that’s just my opinion, and I didn’t vote. One of the several people who suggested this word offered this reasoning: “apropos, as the instrument is long and trumpets loudly, like an elephant’s trunk.” Cute!

He loves a good squirt of water!

Because the calf seems to love playing in water and having it poured into his mouth, many people suggested names that incorporated water, including “waterspout.” One person offered the name “Loxi” based on the African elephant genus of Loxodonta; someone had their thinking cap on!

But in the end, the keepers meticulously narrowed the choices down to three names that would translate well into SiSwati, the language of the Kingdom of Swaziland, the country the calf’s parents were rescued from in 2003.

The final three names are:
1. Emanti, a word that means “water.”
2. Usutu, which is a large river in Swaziland.
3. Mnakabo, a word that means “their brother.” This word was chosen to represent the herd’s growing population.

Beginning Monday, August 9, and until August 12, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite of the three final choices. Voting will be online only, and all you have to do is go here to cast your vote. We’ll reveal the name at 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 26, at the Park’s elephant exhibit. Join us if you can, or watch it on Elephant Cam.

Follow this link to help name the elephant calf: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/africansummerfestival/calf_contest.php

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