Elephant Trainer Visits Us

Today Darcy Ridgeway came in to share with us her experience as an elephant trainer. She use to work at Six Flags in California with a 26 year old Asian elephant named Taj. Here she is showing us a mold of an elephant's ear.

She shared what she has learned and then let us ask questions.
We learned that elephants have to be about 18 before they can have a baby and they are pregnant for 2 years. No wonder they are endangered.

We watched a video as she talked that showed us what her job was like.
We got to see her scoop elephant poop (lots of it), bathe Taj, and Taj doing her job of stacking logs, which is what elephants are used for in Asia.

She also brought some elephant hair for us to feel. It feels like plastic.

We are so lucky to have her share her wonderful, unique experience with us.
If you want to help elephants, please don't buy anything with ivory. You can
also visit the website www.elephantconservation.org

At 1:00 we practiced a shelter in place drill.

KZ and HH brought in all these pop tabs! Can you believe it? This will help so many people.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to help others.

Darcy showed us a video of her last day working at the zoo while she was giving Taj her daily bath. As you listen you can hear her explain how Taj reacted when she came back to visit after being away for awhile. You can tell that they really were attached to each other.