The Houston Zoo elephant barn is equipped with a truck scale which the elephants have to walk across everyday on their way in and out of the elephant barn.
Baby elephants grow an average of 2 pounds per day for the first year of their life. Baylor is an exception to this average. He weighed 800 pounds today. Remember, when he was born he tipped the scales at 348 pounds. He is growing faster than the average elephant! After all, he is from Texas and y’all know the saying.
Baylor will continue to drink his mother’s milk for the next year and a half, but he has started eating some solid foods. From his recent weight, he must be eating a lot of solid foods. Baylor is growing fast, but he has a long way to go. His father, Thailand, weighs in at a whopping 13,000 pounds. For those of you doing the math, that’s as much as a school bus.
At least once a week, the keepers stop the elephants on the scale and record their weight.
You are probably wondering how do they weigh the elephants? The elephant barn is equipped with a truck scale which the elephants have to walk across everyday on their way in and out of the elephant barn. At least once a week, the keepers stop them on the scale and record their weight.
Written by Daryl Hoffman, Houston Zoo Curator of Large Mammals
