Now weighing 980 pounds, Reid Park Zoo’s 10-month-old elephant calf spent the last month focusing on food, getting etiquette lessons from her big sister and enjoying a snow day.

Mapenzi β€” Penzi for short β€” was born to African elephant Semba on April 6. Mapenzi joined dad Mabu, sister Nandi, brother Sundzu and aunt Lungile at the zoo.

The Star is documenting Penzi’s milestones each month until she is 1 year old.

Penzi’s love of food

Although Penzi is still nursing, she’s becoming more food-focused.

β€œShe’s starting to work harder to maintain her weight with food,” says elephant supervisor Cassie Dodds. β€œShe’s really focused on eating and spending a lot of her time eating pretty much anything that’s edible.

β€œShe used to be a little bit picky, but now she’s going for pretty much everything,” Dodds says.

Penzi’s current favorite snack is cucumbers β€” though Dodds says that could easily change tomorrow.

Zoo staff have also incorporated fun feeding strategies for the elephants, giving them the chance to forage for food themselves.

One of those strategies includes a cube-shaped feeder stuffed with hay and other treats. It has a hole just big enough for an elephant’s trunk to fit inside.

β€œThey have to turn the cube and get their trunk in just right,” Dodds says.

Keepers built a tiny version for Penzi that has a hole the size of her trunk. Dodds says she’s been getting lots of use out of it.

"A weather event can always be exciting for the elephants, but a first snow is always special for a baby elephant," said director of zoological operations Sue Tygielski. "Penzi took the snowflakes as a cue to play in the stream and slip and slide in the mud. Even her older sister, Nandi, could not resist a roll in the mud on a snowy day." Video courtesy of Reid Park Zoo, taken on Jan. 26, 2021

Learning her manners

Like most kids, Penzi also has to learn her manners.

β€œ(Penzi’s) relationship with her sister is becoming a little bit more advanced,” Dodds says. β€œNandi used to baby her β€” she would be very protective and careful when she was playing with her. But recently, she’s been taking on a role of teaching Penzi her manners.”

For example, if Penzi invades Nandi’s space, Nandi will essentially use her body and ears to tell her little sister to take some steps back.

β€œShe definitely likes to let Penzi know if she’s being inappropriate β€” but in an appropriate way,” Dodds says.

β€œElephants learn etiquette and proper manners from their families β€” everything from how to move around each other to how to move across the environment to find food and water.”

Despite the lessons in etiquette, Penzi still spends most of her playtime with Nandi. She’s also spending more time with her older brother Sundzu and is becoming a bit more independent from her mom.

Training sessions

As for those training sessions, which are voluntary for the elephants and are done through positive reinforcement, Penzi continues to improve. Training sessions allow keepers to evaluate the elephants and ensure they’re healthy.

She’s been coming when her name is called and listens during β€œtarget training,” which is an exercise that helps teach the elephants to follow the keepers. She’s also becoming more patient.

Penzi is able to put her trunk back when given a cue, which allows keepers to look at her mouth and tongue. Penzi has also learned to open her mouth when given a cue from keepers.

Penzi’s 1st snow encounter

Just like everyone else in Tucson, the elephants were more than thrilled with Tucson’s recent snow day.

Most of the zoo animals decided to stay in their heated night houses when it began snowing, but the elephant herd decided to stay out and play in the flurries.

β€œIt was really fun to watch how excited they were when it was snowing,” Dodds says. β€œI related that back to my kids and how excited they were when they saw snow.”

β€œ(Penzi) had a blast that day,” Dodds says. β€œWe were watching the weather and as soon as the snow started coming down, she got really excited β€” running around and slipping around in the mud.

β€œThey really seemed to notice that it was something different in their environment.”

Zoo staff filmed part of the snow day, giving Tucsonans the joy of seeing how much fun the elephants had. The video made its way around the world and was picked up by many news outlets.

β€œIt’s really special to the elephant team and everybody here at the zoo to be able to make that connection and connect Penzi to our community and connect people all around the world to wildlife,” Dodds says.

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Contact reporter Gloria Knott at gknott@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @gloriaeknott