San Diego Zoo: elephants

On Thursday, May 3rd, I went to the San Diego Zoo with my niece Chrisha, my two great nieces Claire and Addie, and my great nephew Elliott. We met my friend Diane and her grandson Kieren at the zoo. The San Diego Zoo is famous because it's enormous. It is 100 acres in size and it is located within the even more massive Balboa Park. It is such an amazing place that you could probably spend weeks there and not see everything.

Today, I am sharing pictures of elephants, which includes one being fed a treat.

There are currently four elephants who live in the San Diego Zoo's Elephant Odyssey Habitat. They are elderly elephants, who are named Mary, Devi, Tembo, and Shaba. The first two are Asian elephants, and the second two are African elephants.

Asian elephants live in India, Nepal, and parts of southeast Asia. African elephants live in eastern, central, and southern Africa.

The first elephants at the San Diego Zoo arrived in 1923 and were named Peachie and Queenie.

They were both Asian elephants, who arrived from San Francisco by train. They refused to walk and had to be ridden, which, apparently, attracted a big audience. One of the elephant riders was the zoo's founder, Dr. Harry Wegeforth. 

There are thirteen African elephants that live in the San Diego Safari Park in Escondido, California, about 35 miles north of the zoo, which is located in the city of San Diego. The youngest of those elephants, Qinisa, was born on August 28th, 2012.

For more information about elephants and both the Zoo and the Safari park, take a look at this link.

Tomorrow: The last installment of the San Diego Zoo story is a photo essay of other animals and birds!