I have to do an entry just for this special baby. Nandi is the first African Elephant born in the state of Arizona and this happened at the Reid Park Zoo on August 20, 2014. My friend Jason is the Zoo Director and he was so excited about this birth for months. Every time I was in contact with him it was very apparent in his tone. So it finally happened, the new baby arrived at 10:55pm to mother Semba and father Mabu. She weighed 250 pounds at birth.
My friend Bonnie and I visited Jason at the zoo in mid November but the real reason was because we wanted to see baby Nandi.
By now she had a name chosen from a contest and Nandi was the winner. It means sweet or fun in Zulu and that she is! On my second visit to see her I spent a couple of hours just watching her and her antics. She likes to climb on logs with her back legs.
She climbs over them...
and is working on her strength to push them over!
All of this hard work makes her very hungry often and she goes back to mom for some high energy nourishment allowing her to grow several pounds each day.
When her father pooped in front of her she had to investigate what all this stuff was that was falling out of the sky!
Overall life is good for a baby elephant with no worries in the world other than be silly and enjoy life amusing oneself!
No comments:
Post a Comment