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I finally got back to the zoo today, it’s been months since I’ve been there to see the babies because of my flamenco rehearsals and everything else that I’ve been doing. It was 98 degrees out with only 8% humidity, so for me, the weather was perfect. I don’t normally go on Sundays because of the crowds, but with Mayfest going on this weekend, I thought the zoo may be a little less crowded.

When I got there I found that Belle and Bowie along with Rasha, Bluebonnet and Angel were all out in the big pen., I was happy to see that, now they a lot of room to roam around and do what they do.  They still keep the males separate from the females and I saw Casey in the back pen. The zoo is currently in the process of expanding the whole elephant area because of their growing herd.

Belle and Bowie have both grown, I think the biggest difference was with Bowie, he seemed a little more filled out, but he is still smaller than Belle. They both seemed a little bit more subdued than they have been the other times I saw them maybe it was the heat, it was also later in the day, so maybe they were tired. They both tended to stick a little closer to their mother more than they did with each other. Belle is a little bit lighter in color than Bowie, she is a sandy colored gray, Bowie is more of a very dark gray and Bowie seems to have more marks on him, and he has the cutest little mullet of hair on the top of his head!

When Belle stands she likes to stand with her back legs crossed, it’s just so cute… Bowie does it too but not quite as much as Belle.

When I first got there Angel was in front and she was breaking sticks and chewing them, actually they were big logs. Rasha was also busy breaking some sticks.

The zoo keepers came out to clean up and Bowie went running to them and walked by their side. He followed the zookeeper the whole time they were out there. Bowie seems so warm and snuggly, he seems to love people and I think they love him. I would do anything to be able to go into the pen and pet them.

I’m not sure what happened but Rasha and Bluebonnet were standing in front of the two babies, the babies were against the fence.. Rasha took her trunk and smacked one of the babies with it and he fell to the ground and screamed. I’m not sure if it was belle or Bowie because they were behind the two adults… (Angel was still breaking logs oblivious to what was going on with the babies). It was a little disturbing to see, but the baby got back up and it didn’t seem to phase them one bit.

Belle and Rasha went over to the pool  I’m not sure what Rasha was doing but she was facing the fence with her back to everything while Belle was exploring the pool.  She put her little trunk in to drink the water, and then touched it with her front legs and then walked around the perimeter of the pool.  Then she slowly made her way into the pool to play and swim.  Later on Bowie went over to the pool with Bluebonnet (his mom) but he didn’t go in, he stayed by the side and played with the water with his trunk.

This view is of Belle playing in the pool.

Thanks for reading my blog about the elephant babies.  Below is a gallery of more photos.

And one more thing, here is an interesting article from National Geographic about elephant calls and what they mean:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/news-features/what-elephant-calls-mean/

Laura Lynne

Bowie is following the zookeeper and holding the rake with his trunk

Bowie followed the zookeepers the whole time they were there, He seemed to love them. And his little back legs are crossed here the way Belle always crosses hers

Bowie seems to like having his head scratched

Belle at the edge of the pool playing with the water

Crossing Her back legs

Belle is a lighter color than Bowie and she is still bigger

Then playing in it

Checking out the water

Getting ready to go in the pool

He has the fuzziest hair on top of his head, just like a little mullet

Bowie loved when the Zoo Keepers came out to clean up the pen

Angel having a good time breaking and eating logs

Rasha was also breaking sticks and eating them