Lisa and I had a great opportunity to get close to some elephants at the Knoxville Zoo. Lisa has an associate on her team whose husband is one of the elephant keepers at the zoo. They arranged for us to meet the elephants.
After watching the elephants take a bath, we were able to go into the exhibit with them. There are three elephants at the zoo, two females and one male. They are sectioned off from each other. The male is named Tonka. We were in with the two females, Edie and Jana.
We were able to pet the elephants but first the elephants had to get used to us. In order to get used to us, the elephants would sniff from our toes to our knees, spending a lot of time snotting up our shoes and pants. Once they got to know us we were able to take some pictures, play with their tusks, and other fun things.
Then the elephants wanted to show off! I played soccer (kind of) with Edie.
And then I played football with Jana until she threw the ball in the water.
We actually played soccer and football with both of the elephants. It was fun to see the tricks they have learned. You could also see the different personalities the elephants had. It was a lot of fun and a once in a lifetime opportunity to get so close to these huge animals.
When we returned home, Bailey and Duncan took forever sniffing us trying to figure out what kind of animal we had just spent the afternoon with!
4 comments:
That looks like so much fun! A lot more fun than our experience at the zoo this weekend. Although Hogle Zoo does have a baby elephant that is pretty cute, but we didn't get close. Way fun. You guys have all the fun.
I am so jealous!
That is so freaking awesome! Elephants are my favorite! I am totally jealous too. I wish I could have seen the dogs =)
I am jealous too!! I saw the baby elephant in Salt Lake and he was way funny. They really do have different personalities.
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