Week Ten—The Final Week!
In late June 2010, the Zoo began acclimating its three Asian elephants to their new home, Elephant Trails. They have been busy this summer getting familiar with their new home, transitioning little by little from their original habitat of the Elephant House and yards and to their new state-of-the-art barn and yards, comprising the first phase of Elephant Trails. Phase one opens to the public on September 3.
August 27
Kandula did well for all of his training sessions and he shifted and stationed well. If he continues to improve we will give him access to habitat 2 in the next few days. Today we tried bathing him from the hallway where Ambika spent her early days of transition. This worked very well, except that Kandula was a bit distracted by the punching bag toy that was hanging directly overhead. He ran off several times during bath to fight with it! Eventually he completed all of the behaviors of his bath routine.
We opened the skylights and the shade cloth for the first time today. It was a non-event. The elephants scarcely noticed. Ambika did notice that it suddenly got brighter inside, but that was about it! We did find that it became immediately warmer under the direct sun with the skylight open. For the heat of the summer, we are better off with the skylights closed. This fall and spring we are looking forward to opening them and letting a little more fresh air circulate!
Kandula has been enjoying the new barn, finding many new ways to play. He can find many creative places to cram and wedge logs into doors, drinkers, and between bollards. Another new toy was hung in a stall for him. It is basically just a hanging log, but he loves to hit it and try to pull it down. He was seen rolling his ball under it and climbing up on the ball to grab the log! He also has discovered another fun game—breaking the outdoor drinker! He managed to bend the bowl that holds the water even though it is well encased in protective metal. Once the bowl gets bent, it disrupts the tilt mechanism that cause the water to refill and then the water runs continuously and overflows. He is his mother’s son, after all!
August 28
This is the last day of official transition! Kandula broke the drinker in one of the paddocks last night. He dented and damaged the metal water bowl. We hammered it back into shape and reinstalled it, but it will need some real repair.
We spent a good portion of today moving the last of our things from the old barn. Otherwise it was just an ordinary day, further solidifying the new routine.
August 29
Our official transition is over and we have completely moved out of the old barn so phase 2 can begin! The elephants are continuing to adjust to their lives and routines in their new home.
Kandula did a much better job of breaking the drinker last night. This time he bent the bowl beyond repair, broke the tilting mechanism beneath it that controls the water flow, and somehow even broke the water shut-off valve. Of course, the elephant is never to be blamed! Everything in the exhibit is designed to be elephant-proof, but the design does not always work perfectly!
Unlike many of the exhibit items, Kandula is working very well. He is shifting, stationing for door movement, and separating from Shanthi in a satisfactory manner. He has met all the criteria we set for habitat access. Tomorrow he will be allowed into habitat 2!
August 30
Metal shops staff came and installed a metal plate in the broken drinker. The plate seals off access to the water bowl. They also added a plate to the drinker in habitat 2 so he won’t destroy that one either. This is just temporary, to prevent Kandula from causing further damage until they can work out a permanent solution. Luckily, there are only two drinkers of this design. There is another drinker they can use just outside of the cables in habitat 2. We are working on a couple different potential solutions to protect these two drinkers and make them functional.
At 10 this morning we gave Kandula access to habitat 2. When the door from a stall to habitat 2 was first opened, Kandula ran away into another stall. He tentatively came back and peeked out the door, then ran away again. We opened up two more doors to habitat 2. He seemed to feel more comfortable once multiple doors were open. He became braver and soon ventured outside. Once in the habitat, he walked around while steadily putting away trunkful after trunkful of grass. After about an hour he had stuffed himself with enough grass that he could spend some time wandering around a little. We left him with access to the barn and habitat 2 for several hours. After lunch we brought Kandula inside without any problems.
In the afternoon we took Shanthi for a walk down to habitat 3. She also enjoyed eating grass for a little while, but was apparently distracted with calls from the other elephants and smells in the habitat. We encouraged her to walk down to the lower part of the habitat. She seemed to not want to be there and returned to the barn as soon as we released her. She was not frightened, but she was uncomfortable. It may just be that both Ambika and Kandula were calling for her to return.
