Archive for the ‘Elephants’ Category

Mar
07

Meet Max, the Elephant Barn Dog

Posted by in Elephants,Mammals: Our Furry (and Hairy!) Friends

This post first appeared in the Spring 2013 edition of the Houston Zoo members-only Wildlife Magazine.

Maximus, known to everyone as Max, is the official elephant barn dog at the Houston Zoo. A handful of zoos around the country boast having barn dogs, and while we’re not sure how this unlikely pairing began, we are happy to continue the tradition! These animals can help hone training techniques, help with herding, and provide companionship. But let’s focus our story on Max, the people-loving terrier mix who went from a hard beginning to a life of comfort and play.

On December 24, 2008, one of the Houston Zoo’s Keepers spotted a three-month-old Max along the side of the road. She picked up the pup and took care of him while looking for a permanent home for him. Around this same time, the elephant team was looking for a barn dog, and soon began the process of determining if Max would fit the bill.

Now four years later, Max is an integral part of the elephant team’s day-to-day routine and a part of the Zoo family. He keeps the elephant staff company as they clean the yard (by playing alongside them with his favorite ball), tests the waters in the elephant swimming pool (only during the hot summer months – when there are no elephants in it), and  he even attends the occasional meeting. According to Martina Stevens, Elephant Manager, “Max has quite the social calendar.”

While he doesn’t enter elephant space unless the Keepers do, Max has a great relationship with his giant companions too. He is described by Martina as a very rule-oriented canine who likes to occasionally help the Keepers teach manners to Baylor and Tupelo. He has a special bond with these two youngest of the herd, and was in attendance for both of their births.
Make sure to look for Max next time you’re at the Houston Zoo. “Max has never met a person he didn’t like,” says Martina. We think that’s probably why Zoo guests and staff like him so much too.

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Jan
30

Researchers’ Field Work Confirms EEHV is Present in Wild Asian and African Elephants

Posted by in Elephants,Zoo News

On January 28 and 29, more than 70 participants from 6 countries gathered in Houston for the 9th Annual International EEHV workshop sponsored by The International Elephant Foundation and the Houston Zoo.  Research findings presented at the workshop confirmed that EEHV is present among the wild population of Asian and African elephants and that the virus did not ‘cross’ recently from African elephant hosts to Asian elephants.

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) is the leading cause of death in Asian elephants under the age of 8 in the care of humans.  Since 1978, 60 cases of EEHV in North America and Europe, as well as 20 EEHV deaths in Asian among wild and managed elephants, have been confirmed.  This devastating disease is a significant threat to self-sustaining populations of managed and free ranging Asian elephants worldwide.

At the Houston workshop, veterinarians, virologists, epidemiologists, immunologists, elephant care specialists, and administrators presented 16 research papers reporting advances in EEHV research, epidemiology and clinical management.

Among the advancements reported at the two day conference, Dr. Paul Ling of Baylor College of Medicine’s (BCM) Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, and the lead researcher for the 3 year old Houston Zoo/BCM EEHV research collaboration, presented findings of field studies that detected EEHV presence among healthy wild Asian elephants in India.

Dr. Ling’s data and additional research presented at the conference by Dr. Simon Long at Johns Hopkins University demonstrated that EEHV is widespread in Asian range countries and that Asian elephants appear to be ancient natural hosts of EEHV.

Dr. Ramiro Isaza of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine reported preliminary findings of a multiyear molecular screening and epidemiological investigation that found no significant association between EEHV occurrence in Asian elephants and exposure to African elephants.

Both findings argue strongly against the previously suggested notion that EEHV is only a disease of elephants in the care of humans and that the virus crossed recently from African elephant hosts to Asian elephants.

Other advances reported at the 9th annual workshop included establishment of highly sensitive diagnostic tests permitting routine monitoring of domestic and wild elephant populations that allow earlier treatment of elephants demonstrating EEHV symptoms, and establishment of treatment protocols that combine antiviral drug therapy with intensive supportive care.

“In the past three years, since the creation of the Houston Zoo/Baylor College of Medicine research collaboration, we have made more progress in EEHV research than at any other time since the elephant herpes virus was identified 17 years ago,” said Houston Zoo Director Rick Barongi.

Going forward, goals for the workshop researchers include securing long-term funding for the Smithsonian National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory, greater collaboration and communication among researchers internationally, development of more sensitive testing to identify when baby elephants are most vulnerable to EEHV, and expanded treatment and supportive care options.

Sep
21

History you can see

Posted by in Elephants,Zoo History: Memories, Looking Back

The Houston Zoo is fortunate to have two surviving exhibits from the mid 1920s.

One is The Arena.  Today, The Arena is better known as the home of our two cinereous vultures. But from the mid 1920s to the mid 1930s The Arena was one of the most popular destinations for Zoo guests.  Most afternoons the Zoo’s first head zookeeper Hans Nagel could be found inside The Arena with a cougar, leopard, or lion presenting an awe inspiring training demonstration. 

Zoo guests surround The Arena in the mid 1920s anxiously awaiting another training demonstration.

Before entering The Arena, Nagel would warn his audience, “Don’t make any noise, no matter what happens.”  Equipped with a buggy whip and a long wooden pole, Nagel would train the big cats to play dead, jump hurdles, play leap frog at sit at a table.  Yes, it was a different age and, no you wouldn’t see that kind of display today.

More than once, Nagel’s training demonstrations sent him or his assistant Tom Baylor to nearby Hermann Hospital. The exhibition was once captured by newsreel cameras. 

Yes, that’s a one cent stamp on this post card featuring the Zoo’s aviary. The card was sent September 12, 1930

The second surviving Zoo exhibit from the mid 1920s is the Flamingo Pool.  The exhibit features some of the first ‘rockwork” ever constructed – faux concrete trees and a waterfall created by renowned faux bois artisan Dionicio Rodriguez.  Originally, the work, seen in the vintage postcard on this page was contained inside an aviary that housed not only birds but tortoises as well.  The aviary was heavily damaged by Hurricane Carla in 1961, but a portion of the original hurricane fencing may still be seen on the east end of the Flamingo Pool. 

Recently, we identified a third relic from the Zoo’s earliest days thanks to David Baylor, grandson of former Zoo Manager Tom Baylor who shared vintage newspaper clippings from his grandfather’s scrapbook.  Among the collection is this clipping showing Mr. Baylor with the Zoo’s first elephants, Hans and Nellie.

It’s a bit hard to see, but on the left side of the clipping you can see a portion of a plaque on a metal gate.  The plaque commemorates  the now defunct Houston Post-Dispatch for its efforts to raise the funds to bring the Hans to the Zoo. The brass plaque can been seen today at the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat near a fiberglass sculpture of an elephant – a story we’ll examine in future posts. 

And we encourage you to become a part of the Zoo History blog.  We invite you to e-mail media@houstonzoo.org and share your family photos and Zoo memories with us.

 

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Jul
16

Meet the Zoo Keeper: Mandy Rinker

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Elephants,Meet the Staff

Have you ever wanted to know what being a zoo keeper is like?  Well, here’s your chance!  This week is Zoo Keeper Appreciation Week, so we’re featuring a zoo keeper each day to give you a behind-the-scenes look at that goes on at the Zoo.  Today’s amazing keeper is Mandy Rinker, who has been a zoo keeper here for 6 years.

Zoo Keeper Mandy trains Houston Zoo elephants Shanti and Baylor

Mandy’s day starts at 7 am on the dot, when she and the other elephant keepers get breakfast ready for the Zoo’s 7 elephants.  After the elephants move inside their barn, Mandy goes out into the exhibit and cleans, sets up some delicious hay for the elephants, and puts out enrichment items.  Then, the elephants get their daily bath, and they go back into their exhibit while Mandy and her fellow keepers clean the barn.  Next is lunch, both for the elephants and keepers (separately, of course!).

But that’s just the first half of the day…and more fun is yet to come!  Afternoon is the time for training the elephants to stimulate their minds and help give them different ways to exercise.  Be sure to be at the elephant exhibit at 1:30, because that’s when Mandy and the other keepers do a keeper chat for guests!  Afterwards, Thai and Tucker, the male elephants, move inside the barn for foot care while their yards are cleaned.  What’s next?  The third meal of the day for our elephants: dinner.  Finally, Mandy helps get the elephants settled in their overnight housing.

Every day in addition to training, Mandy also does husbandry, which involves taking care of the animals to make sure they are healthy.  Elephants in particular need routine foot care in addition to skin care and trunk washes.  Mandy also draws blood each week to monitor health and for EEHV surveillance.

Mandy has wanted to work with animals as long as she can remember.  Her first zoo experience was volunteering at the Niabi Zoo in Illinois.  That was the same summer she also managed a hog farm!  Mandy loved everything about it – and what’s not to love about hogs, especially the baby ones?  She was also a zoo keeper at the Living Desert in California, where she worked with hoofed animals, carnivores, birds, and reptiles.  But elephants were always on her mind – in Mandy’s words, “they are amazing!”

When asked about her favorite experience so far at the Zoo, Mandy said it had to be watching the births of Baylor and Tupelo.  Around 5 elephants per year are born in this country, so it’s a rare and incredible experience.  What’s Mandy’s favorite part of the day?  Every day!  She loves every moment of her job, and the Zoo is lucky to have her.

For more zoo keeper features, stay tuned all week!

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May
30

Swimming Lessons!

Posted by in Animal News & Updates,Births and Arrivals - New Animals!,Elephants,Enrichment: Keeping it Interesting

Living in one of the warmest and most humid environments in the country, I think we can all agree that there are few things more exciting than the chance to lounge about in the pool. The refreshing fun and social bonding experience is not only fun for people – many of our animals enjoy the same treatment!

Tupelo (left) and Baylor (right), playing in their kiddie pool

 

Here we have Tupelo and Baylor, Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) calves housed here at the Houston Zoo. As you can clearly see, both of these young elephants are enjoying a soak in an inflatable kiddie pool. This gives keepers the opportunity to monitor their progress swimming before they get the opportunity to tackle a much larger, deeper pool.

The two calves have since graduated from kiddie pools, and can regularly be found enjoying the 80,000 gallon pool in the new elephant yard (the newest addition to the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat). However, this picture is absolutely too cute not to share and is sure to help cool anyone off on a warm day.

Want to see more of our elephants? The Houston Zoo has a webcam in the new elephant yard, broadcasting 24/7. Our herd of elephants spends most of the time in this yard (though they do come out of the yard for their morning bath, in case of inclement weather and just so keepers can clean up!). The elephant webcam can be checked here.

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Mar
08

Pongos Helping Pongos – Art by Animals for Conservation

Posted by in Carnivores: Spots, Stripes and Sharp Teeth!,Conservation,Elephants,Endangered Species,Events,Meet the Staff,Primates

 

Ever wondered what a painting by an elephant would look like? What about a clouded leopard? Now is your chance to find out. 

Started in 2004 as a grass roots effort by Houston Zoo Primate Keepers, Pongos Helping Pongos was an art show featuring paintings by our orangutans here at the zoo. The scientific genus name for orangutan is “Pongo“, and so the name for the event. Pongos Helping Pongos (or PHP for short) has become a biennial tradition carried on by the Primate Team. 

One of the messages we like to give our zoo guests is that every species is part of a web. If you affect one strand of the web, it affects the entire structure. Holding with this belief, PHP has expanded to include several other species that call the South East Asian rain forests home. You will not only find paintings by our talented orangutan artists but elephants, clouded leopard, siamangs and binturongs as well. 

And not to be left out, some very talented and generous Houston area artists have collaborated with our animals on several very unique, one-of-a-kind paintings that are well worth seeing.

This fun and worthwhile event will be held on March 10th at the G-Gallery in the Heights from 6PM – 8PM. It’s free and everyone is invited to view the art, bid on paintings and enter our raffle. We’ll have horse de’ ouvers and beverages generously donated by our sponsors so join us for an evening of animal art and conservation.

http://www.houstonzoo.org/php/

 

 

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Sep
22

Animal Enrichment: It’s an Elephant’s Life

Posted by in Elephants,Enrichment: Keeping it Interesting,Events

Enriching the herd of Asian elephants here at the Houston Zoo  is a very important part of our day.  Elephants are highly intelligent animals (probably the most intelligent at the zoo) and they need many different types of enrichment. 

Training is one of the most important parts of an Elephant keeper’s day, and is extremely enriching for our elephants as well.  It allows the Elephant keepers to get very close to each animal and inspect their body condition and care for them, but it also helps to form a strong relationship between each keeper and each elephant.  Training new behaviors encourages our elephants to think critically to receive the reward of food and praise — and also helps to keep the elephants active. 

Along with mental stimulation, physical enrichment, such as toys, scents, spices, leafy browse and musical instruments are all vital to keeping our elephants active, enriched, and engaged.  When you visit the Houston Zoo, it is easy to spot the items that are placed daily in the yard.  These commonly include small and large tires, bells, bowling balls, large rubber balls, large hanging chimes and large logs.  Of course, all of these toys are elephant proof and safe for our two calves, Baylor andTupelo, to play with as well. 

What you may not be able to see are the various spices and areas scented with extracts or perfume, which encourage the elephants to walk around the yard to find and taste new and different items. Leafy browse, such as Mulberry and Bamboo, is also vital for elephants. Found in their natural diet, leaves and bark are nutritionally important and they also provide a fun toy. 

Our elephants are commonly seen using large sticks to scratch their backs and behind their ears.  New or novel substrates like sand and dirt are also used as enrichment. Baylor and Tupelo especially seem to enjoy a nice pile of fresh sand or a mud wallow. The pool in the new yard will be an excellent addition to the facility and will be enriching to the herd for years to come.  

Hopefully, the elephants will be moving in to the new exhibit in September. It is really just up to the keepers to challenge ourselves to find ways to keep the elephants enriched and think of new ideas.

Written by Andrea Pohlman, Elephant Keeper

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Jul
12

FOTO Friday Winner of the Week

Posted by in Contest,Elephants

Welcome to the Houston Zoo’s FOTO FRIDAY Caption Challenge results post from Friday, July 8!

Last Friday, we posted a photo on Facebook and asked you to leave your best caption in the comment section. Then readers could “like” each caption comment to vote for their favorites. Their votes, combined with those of our own panel, determined the caption to appear under the picture right here on the Official Houston Zoo Blog this week. We hope you’ll come back for the fun EVERY FRIDAY.

YOUR VOTES HELP DETERMINE THE WINNERS!

Here is the picture that was posted on Facebook last Friday, with the top voted caption by Shannon Krugman!!! Let’s all trumpet for Shannon!

WELL, YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T USE CHARMIN

FIRST RUNNER UP:

Eric Burington:I’m not touching you!!!!

  A TIE FOR SECOND RUNNER UP:

Alan G. Pallister:  Phew. I don’t get why dogs greet each other this way?

Cassidy Lentsch: So how does this “leapfrog” thing work again?

And some elephant-sized HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Neisa Villegas: it was just a peanut…come on you drama Queen!!!

Rachel Bright: Crying won’t bring back the shuttle program…we’ll all miss it.

Jeff Austin: Junk in the trunk!


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Thanks for joining in the fun!  And please come on back for next Friday!

Did you know that elephants can swim? Baylor and Tupelo love their baby pools and all the adults enjoy their daily baths, which you can come to see every day at 10:00 AM in the McNair Elephant Habitat. It’s just one way they keep cool during TXU Energy Presents Chill Out at the Houston Zoo!

In the mean time, see these same babies, Baylor and Tupelo, trying hard to share their playpool!

*******

Check out our Facebook page to see the rest of the entries. We hope this brought a smile to your face. And stay tuned for next Friday’s photo! Tell your friends, share this on Facebook, Twitter or your own blogs, and start your office pools to see who can come up with the best lines. (To show the picture and link on your social media, just click the little icons under the title SHARE THIS on the lower left of this post).To find us on Facebook, type in Houston Zoo Inc. in the search field or go to http://www.facebook.com/houstonzoo and become a fan.


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