The zoo director enters the elephant house, takes a bunch of carrots from a chest and a carrot from the bunch. When Thomas Kauffels approaches the box with Kaja and Lilak, the animals clearly know who is coming and what he is bringing with him. Two trunks glide quickly through the metal bars of the massive grille in the Opel Zoo, one small, thin and one rather large. The zoo director deliberately throws a carrot at Lilak, the matriarch of the herd, so that the elephant has to stretch some of the 20,000 muscles in her trunk to get to the food. This gives Kaja time to grab a little carrot weed from Kauffels – and to hear perhaps the most appropriate pet name that could be thought of for an eight-month-old elephant calf: “Kaja! Big! Big Mouse!” shouts the zoo director. Earlier in his office, the experienced biologist, who usually comes across as hands-on rather than delicate, said that the offspring even touched his heart. Curious and stubborn: That’s how the zoo veterinarian describes the elephant cub.Frank RöthWhen the elephant calf was born on May 27th last year after a gestation period of more than 21 months, it was a sensation. The zoo in Kronberg im Taunus can claim the first elephant birth in Hesse in 57 years as a breeding success. More baby elephants could follow in the next few years and decades. In more than 15 years of preparatory work, the zoo has created all the conditions for elephant births, from converting the elephant enclosure to isolate the bulls to putting together a suitable herd. Which elephants live in which zoos is constantly changing within Europe. A few years ago, the Opel Zoo, through the elephant coordinator of the European Ex Situ Program, EEP, took over the female elephant Cristina and her son Neco from a zoo in Spain at very short notice. The reason was social stress in the herd there. It also remains to be seen in Kronberg whether the squabbles between matriarch Lilak and Cristina will continue. The younger elephant cow was raised by hand because the mother did not accept her and, according to Kauffels, often appears to have behavioral problems. Intimate community between mother, daughter and aunt Because the two cows do not get along, Kaja can currently only see the other young animal, Cristina’s son Neco, through the bars of the boxes in the “backstage area”, as the zoo director calls the rooms behind the hall with the glass pane at the front. The zookeepers currently only allow either the mother-son team Cristina and Neco or Lilak, Kaja and Kariba there. These three have formed a close community since Kaja was born. Kariba is Kaja’s mother. The 55-year-old Lilak, born in Africa in 1971 and the only remaining wild child in the Kronberg herd, acts as a kind of great aunt. She was there when Kariba was born about 20 years ago at the Berlin Zoo and has been at her side ever since. Since Kaja was born, Lilak, who is very old for an elephant, has actively taken on the role of the experienced herd elder in Kronberg and, according to the zoo director’s observation, has developed much more energy. Drinks from mother and aunt: Elephant calf Kaja grows up with the cows Kariba (a little smaller) and Lilak.Frank RöthLittle Kaja not only sucks on her mother’s teats, but also on her aunt’s. Lilak even produces real milk without having been pregnant before. Zoo veterinarian Uta Westerhüs sent samples from both cows to the Milk Institute of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Giessen. The laboratory study will show how Kaja’s food is composed of the mother’s and aunt’s breasts. But the young animal also eats solid food, as Jannis Heuser reports. For example, the deputy head of the elephant reserve feeds Kaja pieces of apple. It is cleaned with the hose. “She’s really crazy about the water.” Kaja can also play the trumpet well. This morning, however, only the bright, high-pitched calls from her mouth can be heard, for example when the calf hops through a sliding door from the back of the box into the front of the hall. Kauffels says: “It really goes like a bouncy ball.” In fact, the baby elephant is always on the move. She digs in the hay next to her aunt and throws a load of stalks onto her head and back. Some visitors come almost every day to watch them. Carrot herbs as a souvenir: Zoo director Thomas Kauffels visits Kaja in the rear, non-public part of the elephant house. Frank Röth When the elephants are not outside because of the winter weather, two containers in the elephant house fill up with feces over the course of a day. Kaja’s father Tamo also belongs to the herd of six animals. As soon as the animals can go outside again in spring, Kaja will get to know the bull a little better. Now she only sees him from box to box. But bull elephants are solitary creatures anyway. Tamo is greeted by the zoo director with “Good Boy!” welcomed. To get his carrot ration, he tears open his mouth and hooks his tusks into the grille. It’s hard to imagine that the almost four-ton, 18-year-old elephant will continue to grow for another seven years. Full-grown animals can weigh around seven tons.More on the topicFor Kaja, the scales last showed 277 kilos in January, and shortly after the birth it was 97. After the bumpy start, when Kaja didn’t drink well with the first-time mother Kariba, everything is now going like a picture, says veterinarian Westerhüs. As soon as the calf wants to suckle at Kariba or Lilak, the cows stretch out their leg so that she can get to it easily. Kaja has already been vaccinated against smallpox. Her blood was also taken to determine herpes status. Several Asian elephant cubs in other zoos have recently died from the virus, and the first African elephants have now also been affected, as the doctor says. It is important to know whether Kaja has enough antibodies. Westerhüs describes the young animal as curious and stubborn. Kaja runs to the young bull Neco, who already weighs 1.4 tons, without any fear. The two play together through the bars and get along very well. Five-year-old Neco still drinks from mother Cristina every now and then. But theoretically he and Kaja could become parents together in a few years. But who knows, says Kauffels, what the herd will be like.
Go to Source