Each month, as Nandi bounds closer to her 1-year birthday on Aug. 20, we will keep you in the know on whatβs new with this precious pachydermβs progress.
Sue Tygielski, the Reid Park Zooβs elephant manager, has the skinny on Tucsonβs big baby.
Age: Five months on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The herd is planning something for Nandiβs 6-month birthday in February, Tygielski says.
Weight: About 600 pounds.
Nandiβs first Christmas: The herd woke on Christmas morning to an exhibit covered in enrichment items. βShe had boxes wrapped with fruit inside, and she also had boxes that had beet pulp, which they like,β Tygielski says. But instead of eating the goodies, Nandi took the typical, kid approach. βShe hadnβt had a lot of paper before that. It was her first experience ripping paper and waving it around like a giant flag. She had a lot of fun. She didnβt eat the contents like the other elephants. She just played with the box.β
Nandiβs keepers also gave her a large, plastic cube that momentarily frightened her. βShe ran up to it and trumpeted and bumped into it with her head and stepped on it. She stood on it like, βIβm going to smash this,ββ Tygielski says.
That white stuff: Unlike the rest of the city, Nandi took the weather in stride. The exhibit had more frost than snow on New Yearβs Eve, Tygielski says. βThey didnβt react to the fog ... For us, we call them, and they come across the exhibit, and they just appear. It was kind of spooky. You donβt hear their feet. They walk silently.β
Independence: Nandi no longer needs Mom around 24/7, Tygielski says. Instead, she spends more time with other members of the herd, hanging out with Dad even when Semba is across the exhibit. βShe will stay in the barn and play while her mom goes out to exhibit. She wants to go into all the rooms in the barn, so it takes longer to get her out. Itβs a pain in the butt, but itβs cute. She is becoming an explorer, more confident.β
Milking it: Ninety percent of Nandiβs nutrition still comes from nursing, but she now nurses for longer amounts of time but less frequently. Hay and pellets have also become more usual munchies for the baby elephant. βShe doesnβt just play with them in her mouth,β Tygielski says. The keepers use pellets to reward the elephants for responding, so until Nandi sees them as a treat, she has no incentive to recognize her name.
Slip and slide: βIn the mud I almost felt sorry for her,β Tygielski says. βIt was raining a few days in a row β¦ The older elephants know to walk slow when itβs slippery, but she was trying to run in it. She fell almost six times, flopped in the mud and kept going. She had to slow down to get to the barn. Mom didnβt help her. She looked at her like, βFigure it out, kid.ββ
For more information on Nandi visit tucson.com/elephant
