Everyone here inHoustonis feeling the heat of summer! Thai, the zoo’s 12,000 pound, 45 year old, male elephant will often spend time in his pool in the summer. But, he only likes to swim when it is HOT and SUNNY! At 1:30 every day, the Elephant care team has a keeper chat and provides guests with a chance to learn about elephants. During the summer, the chat includes a bath or hose down for the elephant herd. For Thai, the chat also includes going for a swim. Thai is reinforced for getting into the pool by his keepers. Once he enters the pool, he is given a variety of floating food items such as apples, carrots, and even an occasional watermelon. Getting cooled off on a hot summer day is also very reinforcing! And sometimes, Thai also takes this opportunity to get himself a nice big drink from the hose. Zoo guests standing on the Elephant area deck can see Thai up close and get great photos.
Baylor and Tupelo cooling off in their big kiddie pool.
With Spring approaching and the temperatures slowly rising, kids all over Houston are starting to think about swimming and playing outside. The baby elephants at the Houston Zoo are no exception. Now that Baylor weighs more than 1,100 pounds and Tupelo about 600 pounds, the small, inflatable pools do not last longer than 5 minutes without getting popped. Houston Zoo keepers have to give Baylor and Tupelo a much bigger kiddie pool to play in.
The babies now get a family size pool which is 120 inches in length and can hold both calves. It is a lot more durable and usually lasts for about 5 uses before it has to be replaced. Playing in the pool is a fun enrichment activity for the babies and the pool is given to them when the weather allows.
Pool time is unannounced and unplanned. Guests who happen to be in the area around the elephant deck at the right time get to enjoy watching the calves splash around in the pool. However, Zookeepers do bathe the elephants everyday at 10 a.m. with a Meet the Keeper at the barn windows.
Written by Mandy Rinker, Houston Zoo Elephant Keeper
Our elephant calves, Baylor and Tupelo, have certainly kept us busy the past few months, but we are welcoming 2011 with excitement and anticipation. On January 3rd, Baylor turned 8 months old, and just one day later Tupelo turned 3 months old! It is hard to imagine just how small they were at birth (if you can call a baby over 250 pounds small!), but they have both grown tremendously in this short time. Keepers have been documenting both Baylor and Tupelo’s “firsts”, along with their adorable antics during playtime.
Baylor trying to get a leg up on Tupelo
Baylor now weighs 1,045 pounds! That means he has gained about 3 pounds a day since birth, which is definitely above average for an elephant calf. Baylor is still nursing from his mother, Shanti, and will continue to for quite some time. He is also eating with the herd, enjoying hay, kale, and the stray piece of bread or popcorn. He also eats chopped produce, but prefers carrots and sweet potatoes over apples.
Tupelo has been gaining weight quickly as well, now weighing 465 pounds! She is gaining about 2.3 pounds a day and doing extremely well. She is learning to use her trunk to feed herself and is regularly seen munching on chopped produce and hay. She only has two teeth grown in so far, so she is not eating much solid food yet. One thing visitors will surely see her eat is the adult elephants’ feces. Yes, it sounds disgusting, but it is actually normal and very beneficial for elephant calves. By consuming the feces, the calves get good bacteria in their own bodies which helps them digest food and produce normal stools of their own. Tupelo’s personality is also showing itself to be extremely outgoing, and she is always approaching keepers for a good scratch.
Both Baylor and Tupelo, along with the rest of the Houston Zoo’s elephant herd, can be seen on exhibit daily at the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat. It sure is a lot of fun watching Baylor and Tupelo play rambunctiously with each other, and if you listen closely you might even hear them squealing “Tag! You’re it!”.
Written by Andrea Pohlman, Houston Zoo Elephant Keeper
Back in June, the Texas coast was hit by Tropical storm Alex. The Houston area was on the outskirts of the storm, but experienced several days of heavy rainfall. While most of us were trying to stay dry, there were at least 5 large grey pachyderms soaking up the rain and one of them appeared to be a having a pretty good time at it. Asian Elephants are very aquatic animals. Besides the fact that they live in the rain forests, they enjoy being in and around the water as well. The following is some video of Baylor at just under 2 months old having a good time all by himself playing in the rain.
Baby elephants love to climb and explore new things. While Tucker is not new to Baylor, Tucker is still the perfect thing to climb on. These two bulls have had a great relationship since the day they met. It is good to have young elephants together, so that they can spar, play, and burn some energy. Because Tucker is so much bigger than Baylor, he will often lay down when they play. Lately, Baylor has taken a likening to using Tucker as a Jungle Gym. Baylor likes to climb on Tucker and sometimes even stays on Tucker’s belly for awhile. Tucker doesn’t seem to mind.
Written by Daryl Hoffman, Houston Zoo Curator of Large Mammals
Being the big brother is not easy, but Tucker has been really good at it so far. All Baylor wants to do is play, play, play. But, Tucker on the other hand wants to eat first and play later. Tucker has shown a lot of patience with Baylor and often gently nudges him aside while he eats. Unfortunately for Tucker, Baylor is very persistent. Elephants can eat well over 100 pounds of food each day. Each of the elephants at the Houston Zoo eats almost two bales of hay a day, 1.5 pounds of grain made specifically for elephants and over 10 pounds of produce.
Written by Daryl Hoffman, Houston Zoo Lg. Mammal Curator
Who knew a log could be so much fun? Baylor did. He watches Tucker push and roll the massive logs and tree limbs around the yard like they are twigs. He is a long way from pushing them like Tucker, but that does not mean they are not fun. The logs do make good belly scratchers or back and side scratchers. The logs make good obstacles when Baylor is being chased by Tucker as well. They help to slow him down. Tipping the scales at 540 pounds, Baylor is healthy and continues to grow. He has gained over 200 pounds since he was born on May 4.
Written by Daryl Hoffman, Houston Zoo Lg. Mammal Curator
As Baylor continues to grow, so does his personality. He is still somewhat of a “Momma’s boy,” but he is slowly coming out of his shell. Like most baby elephants, Baylor is always on the go. He is not content being in one place for very long and what better way to get from one place to another than to run. He seems to run where ever he is going. Sometimes, he even runs in circles. He does not always seem to know where to go next. People may think that elephants are slow, but actually elephants can run faster than the average person for short distances. Elephants have been recorded running at speeds up to 20 mph! Baylor is not that fast yet, but if keeps this behavior up, there is no doubt that it will not take long for him to reach those speeds.
Written by Daryl Hoffman, Houston Zoo Lg. Mammal Curator
Tucker and Baylor playing in the Houston Zoo elephant yard
While Tucker and Baylor are not blood brothers, don’t let them know that. They have become great companions for each other over the past few weeks.
Everyday as soon as they are put together, Baylor is sure to run up and greet Tucker. Most days Tucker wants to eat first before he plays but all Baylor wants to do is play, play, play. Sometimes Tucker can get a little over zealous but some interference from the other elephants or a member of care staff and Tucker is quick to realize that he weighs roughly 3000 pounds more than Baylor.
Tucker trying to eat but Baylor wants to play!
Because of there size difference Tucker will lay down or put his head down to solicit interactions from Baylor. This is a technique that he no doubt learned from his own interactions with our adult male Thailand.
Tucker and Baylor
Tucker weighs about 3,000 pounds more than Baylor
Tucker learned how to play with Baylor from Thai.
Writen by Daryl Hoffman, Housto Zoo Large Mammal Curator
