Taronga Western Plains Zoo’s Asian elephant calf Sabai turned two years old on the 2 November.
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Sabai is growing into a very confident young calf and currently weighs just over 1000 kilograms.
Sabai is still nursing from mum Thong Dee, but is also eating the same foods as the adults which includes a variety of tree branches, hay, fruit and vegetables.
Sabai has recently been learning the morning bath routine which is something we do with the adult elephants every day.
This is useful for building bonds and strong relationships with the keepers, which is extremely important for his development and healthcare. Sabai is very enthusiastic with his training and enjoys learning new behaviours.
Sabai spends his day with mum Thong Dee, Aunty Porntip and young cousin Kanlaya.
The elephants are rotated into different paddocks every day, allowing Sabai time to interact with all the other elephants, including his dad Gung and older brother Luk Chai who is nine years old.
Sabai has recently taken on the role of big brother with Kanlaya who is just over four months old now.
As Kanlaya is growing and gaining confidence, she is spending more time interacting and playing with Sabai.
Sabai also likes interacting with our oldest elephant Burma who is 62 years old, and they will often spend hours chasing each other up and down the fence line during the day.
Other news:
Spring has definitely sprung at Taronga Western Plains Zoo with the arrival of three Ring-tailed Lemur babies born to three different mothers.
The Ring-tailed Lemur babies were all sired by Dia and were born in the following order: Rakitra gave birth to a female on 28 August 2018, Cleo gave birth to a male on 10 September 2018 and Noa gave birth to a female on 17 September 2018.
“It has been an exciting couple of months for the Ring-tailed Lemur keepers as we have watched each mother give birth, and start to care for and nurture their offspring,” keeper Rachel Schildkraut said.
The Ring-tailed lemur babies are spending most of their time in the breeding facility with their mothers until they grow in size, are able to move around confidently and become a little more independent.
The best times to see the Ring-tailed lemurs is generally mid-morning or mid-afternoon at present when they are out on their island with a zookeeper. At other times during the day viewing is from the back of the breeding facility.
