Meet the Herd
Dolly:
Dolly is a female African elephant. She was born in Mozambique in 1976. She
arrived in North America in 1977 and made her first home at a facility in
upstate New York. She
came to The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore in 1982. The Baltimore City
school children collected pennies to help pay for Dolly’s care when she arrived in Baltimore. She joined Vaal, an African elephant who had been living alone at The Maryland Zoo. The
two quickly developed a close bond.
Dolly is a stout elephant with very muscular legs and neck and long, slender tusks. She is extremely hairy and is most easily identified by this particular trait. Some of her belly hairs are three feet long! Dolly also has the concave dip in her back that is a common trait in African elephants. She
currently weighs around 8,000 pounds and stands around nine feet from toe
to shoulder.
Dolly loves to throw dirt on herself and regularly visits the mud wallow that keepers maintain for the elephants. Dolly is a very social elephant and is motivated by praise and reassurance from the elephant staff. Dolly is also very intelligent and perceptive and is aware of even the smallest changes in her environment. As a result, she is very cautious and is careful when checking out new things. She feels safest and is most responsive when given constant reassurance and comfort.
Anna:
Anna is a female South African elephant born in 1975. Before arriving at The Maryland Zoo, she lived at a facility in New Jersey. Anna joined Vaal and Dolly at The Maryland Zoo in 1983 as a cautious eight-year-old. Over
time, she developed a strong bond with Vaal and Dolly, helping to form the
herd.
Anna is the taller elephant and has angular features on her head. Her
back is nearly straight with only a small dip behind her shoulders. Her legs are long and slender. She has a large pair of thick tusks that continue to get longer every year. Her current weight is just over 8,000 pounds. She stands just over nine feet tall from toe to shoulder.
Anna loves to swim in the summer but usually does so only during a rain storm on a hot afternoon. She is very food motivated and can always be seen browsing or grazing in and around the yard. Anna is also very playful and can often be seen running around the rock pile tempting Dolly into a game of chase or tossing, pushing, or pulling any of the tires located throughout the yard. Her calm demeanor and relaxed attitude make her a good elephant for new keepers to start with as they learn how to work with these amazing animals.
Felix:
Felix is a female African elephant who recently joined the herd at The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. She arrived at our facility in December 2007 from a facility in Arkansas. She has settled in well.
Felix is a very “classic” looking elephant except for the fact that she was born without tusks. This is an unusual occurrence in African elephants but does not cause her any problems. Felix was born in Africa and is estimated to be 24 years old. She is considered “petite” for her age, weighing only about 7,200 pounds and standing less than 9 feet tall at the shoulder. She is a very pretty elephant with soft features and excellent body form.
Felix is a quirky animal and tends to vocalize frequently when excited or when she hears new sounds. She is intelligent and perceptive and adapts quickly to change, which makes her very responsive to her handlers. Felix is also an experienced mother. She has successfully raised one male calf already and is currently raising her second calf here at the Zoo. She is proving to be an attentive and extremely tolerant mother who spends every waking minute keeping a close watch on her new calf while also giving him the freedom he needs to explore his world.
Tuffy:
Tuffy is an adult male African elephant that came to the Zoo with Felix. Tuffy weighs about 8,500 pounds and stands at least 9 ½ feet tall at the shoulder. Tuffy
was also born in Africa and had various other owners prior to coming to the
Zoo. He arrived here in December 2007 and has settled into our program well. He has long legs, a slender but muscular body, and no tusks. Unlike Felix, Tuffy originally had tusks but for reasons unknown to us they were removed when he was a calf.
Tuffy is an intelligent, calculating, and extremely perceptive elephant. He is like Dolly in that he is keenly aware of changes in his environment and never misses even the most subtle detail. He is also an athletic elephant. He demonstrates his flexibility and strength regularly by pushing heavy logs and tractor tires all around his exhibit as if they were made of paper!
Tuffy has never been bred with any females, and we are hoping to involve him in a breeding program in the near future.
The
elephant section of this site was made possible by a gift from C.J. Miller LLC