During a recent trip to Houston, we braved the heat and headed off to the zoo.
After seeing the chimps and orangutans, we approached the elephant exhibit. The sun was right overhead and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I think it was over 100 degrees in the shade. One of the large female elephants named Tess had just had her baby. Her name is Tilly and she was 12 days old when these pictures were taken.
Also in these pictures is the 1 year old Joy and two other mature females, Tupelo(mama Tess' sister), and Methai.
This was from the far side of the enclosure. We need to get closer!
Someone was tired and and thought she'd nap for a bit.
Tilly and Joy
Once we'd moved around to the other side of the enclosure, we could see the source of the elephants interest.
There was a zookeeper with a water hose occupying all of the elephants attention. While we were there, Tess probably drank 10-15 gallons straight from the full-blast water hose.
I don't know who this zookeeper is, but I hope she finds these images. She was making friends with her water hose.
Tilly!
Haha! Look at those eyes!
Straight down the gullet.
Me too! I want some water! Don't forget about me!!!!
Tilly was still learning how to use her little trunk and was swinging it about the entire time as she flapped her little ears in delight.
When the babies are this small, there is a danger of them laying down, only to then stand up on the wrong side of the enclosure. Alarms go off, and the zookeepers go into a practiced emergency response mode.
After being blocked out of the action, the elephant in the back, Tupelo, was getting jealous and decided it wanted in on the action. Keep an eye on her trunk.
Going in for the steal...
Almost...
Got it!
This did not last very long, as Tess, the much larger sister gave a quick shoulder-check to stop this foolish behavior.
Sorry... My water!
Gimme some of that water!
Seems strange to drink from your nose. The elephants would barely even look at the stream of water. Their trunks could somehow sense exactly where to get the direct stream of water.
Having decided that, she'd never get any water, Tilly was happy to continue nursing. No wonder Tess was so thirsty.
Joy, no longer nursing, got neither water nor milk...
Zookeeper to the rescue!
As we were departing, Tilly raised her little trunk and let out the tiniest little trumpet sound as if to tell us all goodbye... as if.
Visit the Houston Zoo Website here
These images were captured by me on Friday 6-30-2018.
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon 200-500mm f 5.6, Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
See my other photo posts from the Houston Zoo here:
