The San Diego Zoo recently caught one of its endangered elephants dancing – and singing – in the rain.
The Wildlife Care Specialists team knew two of the African elephants in the zoo’s Elephant Odyssey habitat – Nipho, a 12-year-old African male elephant, and half-brother Sundzu – liked the rain. With the atmospheric rivers hitting California earlier this month, the zoo’s crew thought a performance might be in the works.”We were expecting behavior like this during the storm,” Brittany Drake, wildlife care supervisor at San Diego Zoo, told USA TODAY in an email. “We heard Nipho running, splashing through the puddles, and vocalizing loudly, so the team was able to go out and record him.”
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Not all elephants like the rain – Shaba, a female elephant not related to Nipho does not, for instance – said Drake, but “Nipho, being a teenager, is full of energy and loves to play.”The video shows Nipho frolicking and trumpeting as he cavorts. “Splashing and throwing mud and water are typical behaviors elephants use to protect and maintain their sensitive skin, so this type of behavior does happen frequently when it rains,” Drake said.