Elephant baby media kit - Oregon Zoo

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getting to know Samudra Rose-Tu’s first calf, Samudra, is now 4 years old and beginning to learn the ropes of adult life in the herd. A healthy 286 pounds when he was born on August 23, 2008, Samudra now tops 3,800 pounds but is still as playful and curious as when he was a young calf. He was the first third-generation elephant born in the United States. Samudra (Hindi for “lord of the ocean”) was named by 17,000 voters because of his love for baths. He had a rocky start with Rose-Tu — the first-time mother was confused after the birth and attempted to trample the calf — but she soon allowed him to nurse and began bonding with her calf. Keepers slowly introduced “Sam” to the rest of the herd, and he is now fully accepted by aunties Chendra and Shine. He spends most of his days with Rose-Tu and the herd. Life lessons As Samudra has grown older, he has been increasingly allowed to interact with his father, Tusko. In the past year, the 40-year-old, 13,500-pound bull has been giving his offspring life lessons in what it means to be a bull. Keepers believe that seeing male behavior modeled from an early age will have a positive effect on Samudra’s ability to socialize with the herd as he matures. In the past year, Tusko has been teaching Samudra how male elephants, called bulls, interact with female elephants. Tusko has also taught the youngster to respect him as the dominant male of the family grouping by, among other things, waiting to eat until after Tusko has eaten and not facing the impressive bull directly. Keepers hope that by learning to be a submissive male elephant in his youth, Samudra will mature more slowly and therefore remain with his mother and aunties for a longer time before separating from the herd, as males do in the wild. Growing into a new home Samudra will have room to grow into his new role in the herd. Next year, the zoo will begin work on a new, greatly expanded elephant habitat called Elephant Lands (see page 13), which will allow bull elephants to drift in and out of the herd as they would in the wild, minimizing keeper-made decisions about which elephants socialize together at any given time. In Elephant Lands, Samudra and the other elephants will have a greater amount of choice in how and where they spend their days and nights. Big brother Sam In the meantime, Samudra’s path to independence will be helped along by the arrival of his younger sibling. Like any elder sibling, he can no longer expect to be the center of attention. Rose-Tu already weaned Sam from nursing earlier this year, so he is no longer dependent on his mother for nutrition. As the new calf joins Samudra in the third generation of Oregon Zoo elephants, big brother Sam will keep maturing and learning his place as an Asian elephant bull. O R E G O N Z O O P A C h y d e r m P r e s e n t 2 0 1 2 M E D I A K I T 12
getting to know the Zoo elephants The Oregon Zoo is home to eight Asian elephants: four males and three females. Like members of a family, each elephant has its own personality and its own story. Samudra See page 7. Tusko THE BULLS Tusko joined the herd in 2005 on a breeding loan from a private elephant facility in California to create greater genetic diversity among the zoo’s elephants. He was born around 1971 in Southeast Asia, possibly Thailand. Tusko has a stocky build. He stands 10 feet tall at the shoulders and weighs around 14,000 pounds — even more than Packy. His massive trunk is nearly 7 feet long. Despite his name, Tusko does not have the long, impressive tusks many people imagine when they think of elephants. He broke both tusks prior to coming to the Oregon Zoo and his left tusk became chronically infected late in life. In the spring of 2007, he underwent two surgeries to remove the infected tusk. Zoo veterinarians felt it was safer to remove it than to risk a chronic infection, which could lead to more serious health issues. Packy Packy was the first elephant to be born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years when he arrived at the Oregon Zoo on April 14, 1962. Until then, only nine elephants had ever been born in North America. The son of Thonglaw and Belle, Packy earned international attention, drawing more than a million visitors to the Oregon Zoo for the first time. Life magazine covered the momentous occasion with a lengthy feature describing “The Nativity of Packy.” Today, Packy is the tallest Asian elephant in the United States. He stands 10 feet 6 inches at the shoulders and weighs about 13,500 pounds. He has sired seven calves, including Sung-Surin (also known as Sunshine) and Rama, who both reside at the Oregon Zoo. Packy was the first second-generation zoo bull to breed successfully in world history. Rama Though the smallest of the zoo’s three adult bulls, Rama — at about 9,000 pounds — is undoubtedly Oregon’s “biggest” artist. He began painting as a form of enrichment and showed remarkable interest in the activity, leading to his career as the zoo’s resident painter. Rama’s artistic output, described by one critic as “abstract eruptionism,” is regularly on display at the zoo, and his work has even been exhibited at the Mark Woolley Gallery in Portland’s Pearl District. His paintings are sold at the Oregon Zoo, with proceeds benefiting its conservation programs. Born April 1, 1983, at the Oregon Zoo, Rama is the son of the zoo’s first elephant, Rosy, and the famed Packy. O R E G O N Z O O P A C h y d e r m P r e s e n t 2 0 1 2 M E D I A K I T 13
Page 1 and 2: Pachyderm Present Pending Oregon Zo
Page 3 and 4: OREGON ZOO NEWS For immediate relea
Page 5 and 6: A New Elephant Baby A Better Elepha
Page 7 and 8: 50 years of elephant Births at the
Page 9 and 10: zoo family The new elephant baby’
Page 11: getting to know Rose-tu routine inc
Page 15 and 16: elephant lands the New Elephant HAB
Page 17 and 18: Conservation in north america Speci
Page 19 and 20: asian elephant fact sheet Scientifi

Elephant baby media kit - Oregon Zoo

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