Nandi notebook: An elephant-size temper tantrum

Each month, as Nandi bounds closer to her first birthday on Aug. 20, we will keep you in the know on what’s new with this precious pachyderm’s progress.

Sue Tygielski, Reid Park Zoo‘s elephant manager, has the skinny on Tucson’s big baby.

Age: 11 months as of Monday, July 20. Next month, the little girl turns 1.

Weight: About 925 pounds. Tygielski anticipates Nandi hitting 1,000 pounds by her birthday, though she now gains weights in spurts, making it harder to predict.

Trunk target: Tygielski has been training Nandi in a behavior called “trunk target.” Here, an elephant holds its trunk steady to the trainer’s palm, allowing the keeper to safely check spots like the feet and mouth.

“You want to be able to maintain the trunk so you have a point of focus and know where the most dangerous part of the elephant is,” Tygielski says. So far, Nandi has learned the trunk-to-palm touch and is now mastering — much to her frustration — duration.

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“She has to be still,” Tygielski says. “She can’t be kicking her legs, and she can’t be flapping her ears ... so a lot of times, she’ll just get three seconds where she is perfect, and then she just starts kicking with her leg, so that’s throwing a tantrum, and we can’t give her a treat. We have to start over again.”

The tantrum of all tantrums: ”The first few times we started with these new rules, she threw a little tantrum,” Tygielski says. “In fact, a colleague from San Diego was here and instructing us, and (Nandi) was not having a lot of fun, because she wasn’t having a lot of success, so she literally went and laid down and just rolled around kicking her legs and then came back to the trainer. It was like she was throwing a baby fit, a temper tantrum.”

The elephant paddle: Summer weather has finally lured Nandi and mom Semba into the pool. “What she typically does is climb onto her mom’s sides and has her two front feet on her mom’s side so she can swim around ... and hang on to Mom, and that way she can conserve energy.” Swimming wears Nandi out faster than running does, and she’ll use any available elephant as a raft when her stamina fizzles. “Sometimes she is just under, and you know she is down there, and sometimes her trunk will come up for air, and sometimes it doesn’t, and you know she’s fine. I don’t know what she is doing, but then she just kind of bounces up.” Unlike her Aunt Lungile, who looks elegant in the water, Nandi’s dog paddle isn’t quite there yet. “There’s not too much grace,” Tygielski says, laughing.

No Nandi pancakes: Not to be a fun-sucker, but Tygielski often worries when the six elephants party together. “We had one day where all six elephants were in the pool at once, which was amazing that they all fit, but they do,” Tygielski says. “Those are the days as a trainer that are a little scary, because when all of the elephants start having fun, they might forget where Nandi is and that she’s little and not to push her around.”

But that’s where the keepers have an ally in Semba, who often swoops in to save Nandi from an imminent squashing. “She has spent some time with Dad, on and off, which is so sweet, because side-by-side, she is so small and he is 12,000 pounds, and he continues to be really gentle with her.” When they wallow together, “We’re always like, ‘Oh gosh, please don’t smash her,’ but he knows. Somehow, they all know where she is and not to squish her.”