Tucson's baby elephant finds joy in everything — but especially grapes 🍇

If you ask lead zookeeper Shelby Maerling, we could all learn something from 11-month-old elephant calf Meru.

“She finds joy in just about everything. I feel like she really goes into everything with a lot of zest,” Maerling says. “She doesn’t really seem to avoid much. Things that were big and scary to (her older sister) Penzi, Meru has no notion of fear. But she also has the benefit of a very strong female presence who are all ensuring everything is great for her and that she’s protected.”

Meru was born at Reid Park Zoo, 3400 E. Zoo Court, to African elephant Semba on March 8, joining an all-female herd of allomother Lungile and big sisters Nandi and Penzi. In October, 16-year-old male elephant Tsavo joined the herd.

In the last month, 895-pound Meru has been showing lots of enthusiasm for training sessions — which are voluntary for the elephants and always done through positive reinforcement. The sessions help zoo staff evaluate the health and well-being of the animals.

“Every week, we’re looking at what new thing we can introduce to her. She’s learning really fast and she’s a really smart girl — she catches on quickly,” Maerling says. “It’s been fun seeing her connect the dots and seeing the light bulb.”

Her attention span is more dialed in and she now knows how to put her trunk back, open her mouth and hold her mouth open for a thermometer.

“But she loves that after that, she can get fed in her mouth — it’s really cute and also allows us to get a look at her teeth and her tongue,” Maerling says. “It’s really cute to see teeny tiny — well, that’s relative because they’re probably bigger than all of ours — elephant teeth.”

More recently, Meru has been learning about trunk washes — where sterile water or saline is placed into an elephant’s trunk and blown out. The behavior allows staff to test their mucous membranes and for things like tuberculosis and EEHV, a virus that affects elephants.

“She does a very basic little baby trunk wash and it’s really cute,” Maerling says. “We have a cup and we pour it into their trunks. In her case, it trickles right down and we ask her to blow it out. She’s working on the blowing behavior and the timing.”

Depending on the elephant, zoo staff might hold out a sterile bag to collect the trunk wash. It then gets poured into a tube for veterinary staff.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Meru is learning the behavior partially from watching Semba, but more through trial and error.

“Meru is different from her sisters in how she learns things and how quickly and what works for her and what doesn’t,” Maerling says. “We did a lot of practice with us putting our hands on her trunk and asking her to move her trunk up and down. When she was comfortable, we introduced the collection bag. At some point, you have to put a little bit of liquid in (her trunk) and see how she reacts. The big hurdle is generally with a liquid, they want to drink it — they don’t want to blow it out.”

“I couldn’t hold in the ‘aww!’ I said out loud when she did it. I was very proud of her,” Maerling says.

And like the many months prior to this one, Meru remains obsessed with grapes.

“Grapes are still the most amazing thing to her,” Maerling says. “She does really enjoy carrot, sweet potato, acorn squash and apple, but if you want to tell her she did an amazing job on something, you have to give her a grape. While you do lose her attention for a second, she’s so delighted. She squishes the grape and you can hear her sucking the juice. And then she comes back — for another grape.” 

When she's not eager to train, she's eager to play.

Months ago, Meru was given the nickname “Mountain Goat” because she loves to climb atop logs. While that’s still a cherished activity, she’s been paying more attention to the toys in her habitat.

“Every now and then, you’ll see this wild fling of movement and she will be sparring with the fire hose toy,” Maerling says. “Or you’ll see her running at top speed and pushing a ball and trying to climb it.”

As for the rest of the herd, Meru has bonded with everyone. 

“Nandi is very attentive to her — I think Nandi is perhaps the most attentive,” Maerling says. “Semba is a really confident mom. She’s not a helicopter mom — she lets Meru have her independence but she’ll always be there if Meru needs her. Nandi is more of a helicopter big sister, but she’s gotten better over the last few months.

“If I were to pick just one herd member she's closest with, I’d say Meru and Nandi are besties — but Nandi is the one who decided that.”