Look...It's A Baby Elephant Pool Party!

By Alice Wessendorf on 03/21/2011

With the warm weather just around the corner I couldn’t resist sharing this adorable pool party moment with you. It’s clear that Baylor and Tupelo know how to have a great time! I bet they don’t even have a clue that they are getting some healthy exercise at the same time.

These adorable pair live at the Houston Zoo. Here’s a bit more about them and their pool playtime:

“Now that spring is approaching and the temperatures are slowly rising, kids all over Houston are starting to think about swimming and playing outside. The baby elephants at the Houston Zoo are no exception.

Recently, the keepers gave Baylor and Tupelo a big kiddie pool. Now that Baylor weighs more than 1100 pounds and Tupelo weighs more than 600 pounds, the small, inflatable pools do not last longer than 5 minutes without getting popped. The babies now get a family size pool, which is 120 inches in length and holds both calves. It is a lot more durable. This size pool lasts for about 5 uses before it has to be replaced.

Playing in the pool is a fun enrichment activity for the babies and the pool is given to them when the weather allows. Pool time is unannounced and unplanned. Guests who happen to be in the area around the elephant deck at the right time get to enjoy watching the calves splash around in the pool.

For those guests who want to see a guaranteed elephant bath, the keepers do bath everyday at 10am with a keeper chat at the barn windows.”

You can read more about this pair and the rest of their elephant family on the Houston Zoo elephant blog.

About the author

An enthusiastic believer in the power of natural healing, Alice has spent virtually her entire 17-year career in the natural-health publishing field helping to spread the word.

She is an advocate of self-education and is passionate about the power of group knowledge sharing, like the kind found right here on HealthierTalk.com. Alice loves to share her views on holistic and natural healing as well as her, sometimes contentious, thoughts on the profit-driven inner workings of traditional medicine.

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