Each month, as Nandi bounds closer to her first 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: Four months on Saturday.
Weight: 515 pounds last Thursday, but Tygielski suspected this big baby would gain about five pounds by today.
Getting in the groove: βMonths three and four are really similar,β Tygielski says. Nandi spends more time these days playing with 3-year-old brother Sundzu and is still getting most of her nutrients from mom Sembaβs milk. Her face is getting more round and less wrinkly, Tygielski says, but mom is still a security blanket. After getting her second tetanus shot, Nandi hid under Semba.
Playful palate: βThe most exciting thing is she is eating big clumps of hay and is running to her trainers to take pellets out of their hands,β Tygielski says. βI do think she is eating and swallowing. They are not a substantial portion of dietary intake, but she recognizes that (a trainer) has something that might be fun,β she says. For Sundzuβs fourth birthday celebration on Dec. 27, the elephants will get their version of cake β frozen juice and water with apples and oranges inside.
In the past, when the herd has munched on ice pops, Nandi has just played with her treats. Tygielski hopes that come birthday weekend, she will actually eat some of the βcake.β
Copy cat: Nandi watches and follows, mimicking the other elephants even when she doesnβt exactly know why.
βShe is starting to pick up branches,β Tygielski says. βHer mom and brothers steal them from her because she doesnβt know she is supposed to eat them.β Nandi has also taken to pushing logs around β with little to show for it. The older elephants roll the logs to expose bark to munch on. Still very much a baby, Nandi pushes at the logs, but they donβt budge.
βLittle Miss Coordinatedβ: Her balance is improving, Tygielski says, giving Nandi that nickname. She likes climbing on the plastic balls where zoo staff hide pellets, and she no longer wipes out quite as much β though you might still see a tumble.
βShe was running so fast to keep up with the other elephants, she tripped,β Tygielski says of a recent fall that tickled visitors. Instead of standing immediately, Nandi continued moving forward on her front knees, hobbling after the others.
Sharing the love: Sheβs cute β ask anyone. BuzzFeed ranked Nandi as No. 34 in its list βThe 37 Cutest Baby Animal Photos of 2014,β and Good Morning America recently showed a short clip of mother and daughter during a segment on an βelephant momβ style of parenting.
Read more about Nandi at tucson.com/elephant
