Nandi's first year is full of 'awww'

Every morning, Nandi races into the Reid Park Zoo’s elephant barn to greet the day — and sometimes she trumpets.

“We didn’t know what a baby trumpet would sound like,” says Sue Tygielski, the zoo’s elephant manager. “It’s a little bit like a squeaky sneeze.”

It has been a year of discovery as Nandi’s eight keepers have cared for the first elephant born in Arizona.

First steps. First mud wallow. First swim.

First birthday.

On Aug. 20, 2014, Tucson celebrated its 239th birthday.

Then at 10:55 p.m., this pachyderm princess stole the show.

Elephants lined up to watch Semba give birth in an adjacent paddock. And when the baby wobbled their way, they greeted her, trunks reaching through metal railings to caress the newborn, who later weighed in at 245 pounds.

“All you could see in the light was the trunks coming through...” says elephant keeper Mara Jameson. “They were very curious about her and getting to know who she was.”

As was the rest of Tucson.

The zoo set an attendance record in 2014 with more than 617,000 visitors. The previous record of 606,884 visitors was set in 2012 when the elephants’ Expedition Tanzania opened along with two other small exhibits, said zoo education curator Vivian VanPeenen.

Nandi has also attracted out-of-state visitors.

“It just shocks us that they would come all the way to Tucson to see our baby, and then you realize how lucky you are, because these people traveled to see her,” Tygielski says.

They come because Nandi lives up to her siSwati name, which means “sweet” or “fun” in the Zulu language. Star readers, who voted for the name in September 2014, nailed it.

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She’s spunky, playful and a pro mud-wallower. As of last week, Tucson’s big baby weighed 970 pounds.

In the coming year, Nandi will mature and act more like a “bigger toddler and a bigger kid,” Tygielski says. Maturity means Nandi will receive more training that allows her keepers to better care for her. For example, she is getting closer to showing the staff the back of her ears and bottom of her feet.

She has better patience these days — no more toddler tantrums.

“There are very few people in the world that get to take care of a young elephant, especially one that’s in its family unit and behaving like an elephant,” Tygielski says.

And when it comes to Nandi, “behaving like an elephant” is pretty dang cute.

Here are seven times Nandi made us go “Awwww:”

1. Meeting the family. “She met (the elephants) somewhat individually, and each one would come to her and smell her with their trunk and touch her really gently,” Tygielski says. “Mabu (her dad) is so huge compared to her, but they all stroked her and touched her, and at one point, he kept tugging her ear to pull her up. ... She would reach up to his head with her trunk ... and his trunk looks like a tree trunk, and hers looks like a little piece of spaghetti.”

2. Blowing water. “She has learned how to blow water out of her trunk,” Tygielski says. “She will suck up water and make her own little pool. She will make her own little mud wallow special for her.”

3. Braving thunder: ”She loves the monsoons because it will puddle up,” Tygielski says. “If there is scary thunder they can huddle together ... Nandi is the only one, when there is thunder, to run around, and when she sees that no one else is reacting, she sees that it’s not a big deal.”

4. Playing dress up: ”Mom puts hay and sticks on her back, and Nandi will take a bunch of hay and throw it on her head,” Tygielski says. Some days we have been coming to the barn, and we can’t see her face because she has a wig of hay.”

5. Slipping and sliding: ”Her mud wallow adventures — we were worried about her in the wallow, but she was so confident and not at all fearful,” Tygielski says. “She would trip around and fall and slip around, just getting her toddler coordination.”

6. Charging the ducks: “We have had batches of ducklings, and she is making it her personal mission to protect the herd from the ducks,” Tygielski says. “She runs up to them and stands there and is getting confident. The ducks don’t react at all. They’re so used to the animals, they don’t think she is going to do anything.”

7. Cuddling with Sundzu: “Now some of her sweetest moments are with Sundzu,” Tygielski says of Nandi’s brother. “He will often lie down on his stomach, so he is closer to her height and lets her climb on him. Punga has been doing it a little, but he also plays rough with her in the pool, but Mom comes over and splits things up and puts him on one side of the pool.”