August 11, 2023 • 29 mins
In honor of World Elephant Day (celebrated on Saturday, August 12), Amazing Wildlife visits the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to highlight the world’s largest living land mammal. Rick and Marco chat with Catie Aubuchon, a wildlife care specialist, to unpack pachyderm facts and get a better understanding of all that goes into caring for elephants, from getting to know individual personalities to understanding the dynamics of the herd at the Safari Park. We also find out how many pounds of food an elephant eats in a day, and the surprising number of teeth they have—and we debunk some myths about their trunks and tusks.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Wuenel zis World. I'm Marco went.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncovered fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All Right, Rick, so you wrapped up our last episode about.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Tigers and International Tiger Day by letting everyone know that
we would spend this episode unpacking pacoderm facts and elaborate
on elephant information for World Elephant Day.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So what do you have in mind, friend, Well, to.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Be honest with you, Marco, it's a big topic with
a lot to cover, a trunk full of information. One
might say, okay, but all getting aside. Like we said
with International Tiger Day, World Elephant Day is a day
to help focus everyone's awareness on el and like tigers,
elephants face a wide variety of challenges, but there are
(01:05):
also a lot of great solutions we can do to
help support them.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh yeah, I mean, I know what you mean. We
mentioned wildlife trafficking.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
When we talked about tigers and elephants have had a
long history of challenges with poaching or illegal hunting of
them because some people want their tusks for ivory.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
All Drew Marco, so very true. And I want to
talk more about the many challenges elephant's face and the
many solutions we have found through elephant conservation. But before
we get into that, I would love for us to
learn more about elephants in general.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh yeah, that's a really good idea.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I mean, I don't know everything about elephants, but I
know a couple of cool facts, Like did you know
that the word pachoderm originally was used in the seventeen
hundreds as a part of taxonomy classification. It was once
a scientific order to describe a variety of hulled animals
like rhinos or tape air or bipotamus is, or elephants
(02:01):
and even horses and pigs.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, and it wasn't the word also based on two
Greek words or something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, totally, the word pacoderm.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's a combination of pakis meaning thick and derma meaning skin.
And although the scientific order is no longer used, because
we have more accurate taxonomy charts. Now the term is
still sometimes used in reference to elephants.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, there you go, and I also happen to know
a few facts about the largest living land mammal, but
I think our audience would probably rather hear from an expert,
so I have arranged for us to meet one of
our wildlife care specialists at the Safari Park who just
happens to be a part of the amazing team of
people who care for our elephant heard.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
All right, all right, let's go.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
I am Katie Aubischon, and I am a wildlife care
specialist with the elephants here at the Safari Park.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Thank you so much, Katie for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It's a beautiful day, always a beautiful day here at
the Safari Park.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Right, Well, Marco, it's a little more beautiful than usual. Hoy.
Don't you tell everybody where we are?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh? Yeah, we're in a really unique location.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Unofficially I kind of call this place the Meadow, but
for our guests, we've been here for a few years now.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The area used to be the old monorail path.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Behind what we refer to as Old Tigers and Old
Lion Area, So it's a beautiful spot. I'm looking at
some connifer trees. We're hearing the ravens Colin. You might
even hear a red shoulder hawk vocalizing a little bit.
And we're also behind Tiger Trail. There's that hawk right there.
So a lot of cool wildlife. And also for a
new guest who aren't familiar with the spot, we're actually
behind our new area called Tiger Trail, very unique area
(03:29):
that you can actually see a little bit when you
cruise around Tiger Trail. And we're also by the Elephant Barn,
which is why we picked out this really unique location.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Terribly convenient, don't you think.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I think so, But I think everyone loves it right
these unique spots around the park in this part for
me too, like the park being eighteen hundred acres, it's
just bread taking some of these special little spots around
the conservation park where you can get it really a
close look at nature.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We're getting distracted a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Let's ask Katie, Katy, I want to know obviously this
episode is about elephants. You have many years of experience
with elephants. I think the first thing I want to
ask ask you from your perspective, because both Mark and
I have backgrounds and animal care for many, many years,
what would you say is probably the most frequent thing
you hear from guests that is a misnomer or myth
or misunderstanding about elephants.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So several guests actually often refer to elephant tusks as horns,
and they're very different. Actually, Elephant tusks, or a lot
of people have referred to them in the past as ivory,
are made out of a type of dentin that are
continuously growing, much like I guess a horn for an antelope,
but very different makeup. And there's a very vascular pulp
(04:35):
that goes into that tusk.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Isn't the tusk actually considered a tooth.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yes, modified incisor yeah, so it's definitely dentin. So when
you hear of old pianos made of ivory, it's just
elephant teeth. You're tickling an elephant teeth right there.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
That's one way to put it.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, Katie, I got to ask you because you've been
here at the Safari Park was.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It two years now? Yes?
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Just about two years?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That's amazing And can you tell us where did he
come from? Before that?
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I have worked with elephants since about twenty seventeen, and
right before this, I was in zue Atlanta working with
some elephants over there. A lot of people probably remember
Mischolo from the Safari Park here and he moved over
to zu Atlanta, so I also know big Boy Macholo.
So he's actually one of the reasons I decided to
(05:30):
move out here because he really drove my passion for
elephants home with how amazing he is.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
He talked about how great, yeah, yeah, he was, like
the beaches, the.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Weather, it's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Great.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I love that connectivity to different organizations working together, and
particularly with elephant conservation, right, and you were just talking
about ivory. Can you talk a little bit more about
that need or that impact that elephants are having with
wildlife trafficking too, Right, that's kind of a big issue
going on with this species.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Wildlife trafficking is affecting a lot of vannimals right now,
and one of the biggest things with elephants is poaching
for their ivory, and people are still buying it on
purpose or accidentally on the black market or just in
an antique mall. So it's definitely still a prevalent thing.
I think with African elephants right now, one of the
(06:18):
biggest things is habitat loss and human elephant conflict in
the sense of they're losing their homes and people are
just trying to live over in Africa with the elephants,
and sometimes they're doing it unsuccessfully.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, one of the great things we learned from a
previous interview in an earlier episode is how technology is
helping so many species and one of those things is
you know, satellite tracking callers for the elephants to get
an idea where those herds, what do they actually need
and where can populations of humans maybe live instead, and
you know, working with their natural needs and that sort
of thing. So it is a topic worth discussing, and
(06:54):
definitely it's great to see that so many people from
different walks of life, you know, engineers and robotics and
computer science is are helping out with that as well.
And that does play into World Elephant Day which is
coming up. And one of the reasons we want to
talk to you to learn more about elephants and talk
about things we need to raise awareness for what's going
on with them. And I led with that question about
what do you think most people would misunderstand or have
(07:16):
a myth about elephants, because I think speaking with you
offers up a unique opportunity for us and for our audience.
You know, Mark and I we've been around elephants before,
but it's fun to hear from the people who actually
spend their day with elephants, and that's not something too
many people get to do.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
I'm very lucky. I know that for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, and so I guess my next question. And I
know sometimes it's hard because we do this day in
and day out, we sometimes lose sight of how unique
it is. But what would for you, like, what's that
thing right every now? And you just stop and go, Wow,
this is my life. You know, when you're around elephants.
What is there any particular moments or something that happens
that you're spending time with these magnificent, intelligent animals that
you're like, Wow.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yeah, absolutely, I'm fortunate enough to have those experience is
on a daily basis when I'm working here. So these elephants,
they're brilliant animals and they have ginormous personalities. And when
you as a human click with an elephant and your
personalities mesh, even just for a moment or a training
(08:18):
session or a simple little walk by. It's just it's
We're lucky. We're very lucky.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It's surreal, I know, you know, this is exactly why
we do what we do.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Right, these special relationships that we start building with wildlife
and in part with all that conservation work that we
do too, it makes you, I mean selfishly right, It
makes it feel good that you're part of a greater
project taking care of the beautiful herd here at the
Safari Park, managing that wonderful herd, and also like being
connected to that conservation work.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
But I'm also I think right now, of all the kids,
I would just love to ask you all these questions
about elephants, and I have some of myself, so I
really want to tell me, friend, tell me your day,
your morning. What is like the first thing you do
in the morning when you take care of these amazing animals.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yeah, first thing is we'll pick up their food, their
bales of hay and their produce and get food together
for their morning. Elephants eat about sixteen to eighteen hours
a day, so that's the first thing we want to do,
and that's the first thing they want from us, of course,
because they've gone without seeing us for a couple of hours,
(09:20):
and we want to give them food right away, so
we'll stuff hay cubes for them or hay nets and
make sure we get food to them right away. And
like this morning, we tossed a couple of flakes of
hay to the elephants and that's how we said good
morning to them, and they were obviously very grateful and
thankful for the hey that they know is coming to
them every day. But it's just nice.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Such topic of starting with breakfast. Yes, I remember reading
somewhere that's like it's a couple hundred pounds of food
a day an adult elephant. You happen to that on
rof top of your head. I can look it up later,
but I'm just curious if you have to remember.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Yeah, it depends on the elephant. But we say about
one hundred and fifty for each adult.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
One and fifty pounds of food. And you got to
keep in mind that is hey, that's leafy material, so
it's not like it's a dense heavy but that's a
lot of volume. Is a lot of one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Pounds, Yeah, Honestly, I was going to make the joke
because I remember in days in the bird department going
in and grabbing my items for my birds, even a
big cassowary, whether it be a quarter of a watermelon
as an example. And then I see the elemphant crew
roll up there big, all trucks and cases of fruit
and veggies.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I mean, it is ridiculous amount of food. I see
you guys picking up in the morning.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
But it needs you, right, yeah, absolutely, And we're picking
up about right now, like seven bales of hay for
our eight elephant herd. And then of course Mousey gets
his own set of hay at the moment, so like
we're picking up a lot of hay, and then produce
is a whole other ballpark. So that's only a small
fraction of their diet. We only feed out a couple
(10:57):
pounds per elephant of that a day, only.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
A couple pounds.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
That's all just a couple of pounds full.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Of blueberries at breakfast, but a couple of pounds of food.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I mean, first noting to you, this is like the
largest land mammal on the planet, right, I mean, it
is an impressive species. And we were talking about giraffes
and tigers in the past two and for me, elephants
are one of those species. When you even say the
word to guess, their eyes just light up, you know.
So it's great to offer that experience here at the
Safari Park. Can you describe the herd a little bit
for our guests in case they're not familiar with the
(11:27):
herd that we have here at the Safari Park.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
We have nine African elephants here at the Safari Park
and there are ages range from about thirty three to
four almost five. Zuli actually turns five on World Elephant Day,
Oh right, yeah right, and then Makayah is six weeks
right behind Zuli, so that she's turning five in September,
(11:51):
and then we'll have little five year olds running around.
So our herd is really phenomenal. The three moms have
been here since two thousand and three, and the herd
has grown with them as they have had babies, and
we've had two males here that have helped with those babies,
and then they have since left and we've had I
(12:12):
think at one point it was eighteen elephants here and
now we're down to nine as we've moved elephants naturally
around throughout the country to help with that conservation action
we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, And I think that's worth noting too, is that,
you know, we all recognize that elephants are incredibly social animals.
But to your point saying that we had eighteen now
we have nine, is as the youngsters grow into adulthood,
often in the while the herds will split. Sometimes a
female will take some of the others with her and
she becomes the matriarch of her new split off herd.
(12:46):
Other times males will leave and create bachelor herds. And
that's what's really cool. You had mentioned that, you know,
being into Atlanta, you worked with an elephant that had
been here. A lot of that work that we do
for conservation and for maintaining the health of the herds
is to also offer up those opportunities for herds to split,
and we follow the dynamics that they're showing us to
(13:07):
make that happen. I think that's so cool how that works.
And to what Marco was asking to talk about our
herd as well, I am curious as these youngsters now
get into that five six seven age range. Obviously we're
just beginning at turning five and whatnot. But what do
you expect to see from them as they're now kind
of coming out of that youthful toddler stage and now
(13:28):
they're starting that sort of I don't want to say,
maybe young teenager or preteen age at that point.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Yeah, we can expect to see these guys develop some
really cool personalities, and they already really have. We're already
seeing Makaia kind of try and find her way about
the herd and gain confidence with individual elephants. And she's
a very confident little girl, so she's going to do
(13:55):
really well with this herd. I can already tell she
has reverence from Swaze, our matriarch, and Indula is her aunt,
maybe not by blood, but active aunt, and those two
actively take care of her as well as of course
the other three juvenile girls, Cammy, Cosey and Nissa love
(14:15):
taking care of Makayah. And then of course I don't
want to forget Makaya's mom. I'mgani, who is the beautiful
big tusker we have here in our herd. So Makaia
is going to really find her own footing here in
her herd. Zulie, like I said, is Also, he's turning
five on World Elephant Day. He's very rambunctious, maybe not
as confident as little Makaia. He's much of a mama's boy,
(14:39):
but I think that's how his mom and doula really
likes it. And he'll come to his own eventually as well.
But we'll see how that goes for him.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I totally get that. I'm a mama's boy for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I'm actually right now where you're talking of thinking about
like these elephants growing up. We think of them like
either hatching or being born and learning how to walk right,
And I know some of our favorite tools like a
multi kit, you know, Leatherman is an example. But I'm
thinking with elephants, that's got to be their trunk, right,
I mean, is it like a thousand muscles in the trunk?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (15:08):
That's a complicated question, I'll be honest, okay, because an
elephant trunk is very complex and we have yet to
narrow down like an exact number on how many muscles
are exactly in an elephant trunk. We estimate about like
forty five thousand muscles, and like you can get into
more intense details about like one hundred thousand muscle units
(15:32):
and whatnot. But that trunk is pure muscle and it's
way more complex than we still even know about. So
we're still learning a lot about that elephantry.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, you bring up a good point because I think
sometimes people look at how the trunk moves and they
assume there must be some sort of bones in there
or something, because they can pick up trees and they
can knock things over and tear boulders out, and so
I think people look at that like, oh, it's like
a grasping tail that a monkey would have. It's got
these bones in it probably, Yeah, But you're right, it's
all muscle. It's all of it is.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It's literally just a nose. It's two nostrils at the
tip of that trunk and it goes all the way
up into their sinus cavity in between their two tusks,
and that's their nose. That's how they're able to smell.
But it's also how they're able to grasp and pick
up large tree branches or even just a small blade
of grass.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
That's what's so amazing exazzing.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Oh, I know, and do babies have to learn how
to use that trunk up? Is it kind of you
when you want some do that.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Yeah, I highly recommend going on YouTube and looking at
baby elephants playing with their trunk and learning how to
use it because it's so much fun. They really have
to learn how to suck up water with that trunk
and not drink it all the way up into their
nasal cavity. I don't know if you've ever accidentally done
that while swimming, or water up your nose. It's kind
(16:47):
of painful at first.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So that brings up a good point.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
One of the myths I hear often is people believe
that they use their nose or their trunk like a
straw and they just drink right up from it into
their mouth. But you're sharing with us a perfect segue
into that, which is that it goes of the sinuses,
and the kids, the little ones have to learn how
not to do that, because they really just fill the
trunk up to a certain point and then turn around
and then blow that water into their mouths.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yep, exactly, they can hold. I think it's depends on,
of course, on the elephant and the size of their trunk,
but I've seen an elephant suck about two and a
half gallons up in one go with his trunk and
blow it into his mouth and that's how they they
drink water. It's very very cool.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Katie can ask you one of my favorite questions is
what's your favorite elephant behavior that you get to see?
Like for me, for birds, it's like bathing birds bathing,
they love it, absolutely love it. Yes, for elephants, what
is it for you? What's your favorite?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
I think it's got to be something similar to that.
I love watching them swim. We have a massive pool
in our elephant habitat. And when I see like all
eight of those elephants in that pool together, Yeah, getting.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Their swim trunks on an elephant kiki.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
They're trumpeting, they're obviously just having a good time, so
social bonding and playing together. And when you see the
babies playing with Big Swazi and just having a good time,
it's really enjoyable to watch.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Oh, that's awesome. It's a social structure too.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I want to point out, yes, I mean I love
it because you said the word matriarch, And in case
kids an't familiar with it, I mean it's a female
based social structure, right, So like I got my grandma
Ma have Wolita and my ideas, my aunts.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
It's kind of like that sort of scenario.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Right, Yes, And I think that's one of the things
that drew me to elephants originally, was their matriarchal society.
So a female is in charge kind of of the
family group of the herd of elephants, and usually it
tends to be the older female, the more wise female,
And it's fascinating watching these elephants just regard this female
(18:48):
so highly, and they have a lot of power in
their hands, and it's usually females that seem like they
are don't want the power, They're just there to keep
things in order. And that's kind of what I see
a little bit here with at least Swazi. It seems
like she's just the calm, cool, collected leader. She's just
here to keep everyone in order, and she's just a great,
(19:10):
great matriarch for our herd.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah. I remember when I was visiting our conservation partners
many many years ago, two thousand and nine, I think
it was in Botswana, and they were saying, how to
what you just said where you can always tell the
matriarch even in a new herd, because it's usually the
female that's the calmest and tends to be just observing
everybody else where. The ones that aren't in charge tend
to be a little more on edge about who's doing
(19:34):
what and where and am I gonna get in trouble
for doing this? But they were also saying that that
leadership is the female makes that decision when it's time
to move on, when it's time to go to the
watering hole, when it's time to go wherever. So it's
a really interesting setup to understand and learn the social
structure of the elephants. And I can really appreciate that
matriarchal position, being that once they're there, they're a little
more cool, calmic, collect because they know they're in charge.
(19:55):
No one can't ask any questions.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I mean, I guess I would be if I were
them too, But then you have a the whole weight
of the herd on your shoulders as well, so I
could see how that should also on the other side
of it be just as stressful.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
A little bit of pressure, yeah, pressure, yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Oh, And I mean it really highlights the importance of
those structures too, right when you think about like habitat
fragmentation or just families being broken up.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
It really affects those family units.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So it makes me really happy and thankful for you
and the crew for all the work that you're doing,
and all our conservation researchers that are Savannah Hub in
Africa as well, with all the work they're doing with elephants,
because we all know Rick and I and you that
it's a flag subspecies. I mean, helping out an elephant, man,
you're helping out so much wildlife. I can speak to
the birds, secretary, birds, penguins, I mean the whole right,
such a variety of wildlife that benefit humans included, right
(20:40):
for having elephants around.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yes, well, that's one of the big things we learned
a couple episodes ago was that it's the community conservation
that's really having the biggest impact. It's the people that
live amongst the wildlife that are really helping make the
biggest difference. And I think that's true for elephants as well.
Once we get a better understanding of how the communities
and the herds can all interact safely or live in
the same space safely, that really what's gonna be important.
And I know we're getting ready to wrap up here,
(21:02):
but I do have one other cool question I want
to ask because I think it's fascinating and I think
our kids that are listening might find it really interesting
as well when our kids are growing up. When we
were growing up, you lose your baby teeth, it wiggles
a little bit and it comes out, and then a
new one comes in later on another one's wiggly, and
we have twenty some odd teeth that we go through,
et cetera. But elephants are different. I remember the first
(21:25):
time I saw an elephant open its mouth. Yeah, I
was like, what in the world is in its mouth?
Because the way the teeth are structured. At first, it
just didn't make sense to me how that worked. Can
you tell us a little bit about the teeth and
the sense of how they're structured, and then what is
their cycle of losing teeth and how it's similar and
(21:46):
different than us.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I remember when I first saw inside of an elephant
mouth for the first time as well. And you would
think a massive animal would have more teeth than we do.
But elephants only have four teeth in their mouth, four
and they're about the size of small bricks, so that
makes up for the size of their mouth and to be.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Clear, it's a brick laying on its side. It's not
brick pointing up like we think. Maybe our teeth are
more pears right right, others are laying more. If it's
a brick visual you're thinking of, it's like a brick
laying flat, which gives it that surface for grinding.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Yes, it's like a molar, a very large molar, and
that's what it is used for for grinding up all
the hay and the leaf material and the bark from
the trees that we give them. And they actually get
six teeth in their lifetime, six sets. So they have
their baby teeth when they get their first baby teeth,
(22:43):
and then they lose those pretty quickly, and then they
have their second teeth, and as they get older, their
molars last longer. So instead of lasting only a year
when they have those first baby teeth, maybe their fourth
set will last ten fifteen years, depending on what they
eat and how they take care of them. And elephant
(23:04):
teeth are phenomenal. They are almost like a conveyor about
the new teeth come in from the back and push
those old teeth out and they flake off in big chunks.
So we've found a couple of elephant teeth out in
our yard here and there, and it's just so much
fun when we find we've found a big elephant too,
And then we all are checking each of our elephants mouths, like, oh,
(23:25):
it's not im Ghani's still not all of her teeth intact.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What side of mount for the tooth? Fair? You guys,
I don't even know right, feel like going right?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Like quarter? So maybe we'll leave it to the tooth.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
There you go there, and then what would you what
would the tooth lea an elephant like a couple of
flakes of hay?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Probably lucky.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Then one last question before we wrap up. I love
asking a wild life care specialists for you, obviously, just
listening to you share about what you know about elephants.
You're very you love them. What is it that gets
you up and going? And what's it like to know
that you're part of the bigger picture and not only
just taking care of the individuals here, but the impact
our elephants have on the visitors here and the impact
(24:11):
the researchers have that work with your elephants for elephants
all over the world.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Absolutely, that's a wonderful question. I personally enjoy elephants every
day I come to work because I get to connect
with these animals in a unique way, and I know
that my work impacts them on the day to day
and I want to do better every day for this herd,
for these animals individuals, and then in a bigger, broader sense,
(24:38):
one of my favorite things is sharing these elephants with
the guests that come to the park and watching them
light up when I tell them a story about elephants
bathing and having a pool party or going into the
mud and throwing mud all over themselves. And watching the
guests connect with the elephants that way, and knowing that
I maybe helped them with that A little bit a
(25:00):
little selfish on my but it me up in the morning.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, that's worth dorowning.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
You and guests are just part of this experience, not
just a wide love care crew. But also you know,
kudos to your nutritional services are making those amazing diets right,
horticulture for helping you out allulture.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Right props or horticulture.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
But everybody and especially you, guess up there, I know.
Come to the Safari Park of the San Diegazoo this
summer celebrate World Elephant Day, right, and just get connected
to these projects that we do all over the world,
and especially with these amazing packaderms.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Yes, please do well.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Thank you so much, Katie. You really appreciate you spending
time with us today.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Thank you both.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
This was fun.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Hey, thanks man.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
It was so great talking to Katie and I really
liked how she shared with us a unique brick like
teeth and the multiple sets of teeth elephant have.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
And how she described the nuances of the trunk thousands
of muscles, no bones, and yet still able to uproot
trees or pick up a single blade of grass.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Oh yeah, and what was it around like one hundred
and fifty pounds of food a day?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I mean, no wonder the use tracts to clean up back.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
All right, so true. Now, our talk with Katie was
what I was hoping it would be. It gave us
more of a personal look at elephants and hopefully allowed
our listeners to feel a little more connected to the
elephants through Katie. And that's important because the day after
this episode comes out is World Elephant Day, like we
mentioned at the beginning of the show.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, exactly right, Rick and World Elephant day is set
aside for everyone to come together and remind the world
that elephants they really need our help.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I mean the preservation of.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Habitat, minimizing human elephant conflict, and making sure we all
work together to create a world where all life can thrive.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
It's really important, well said Marco, very well said. And
like Katie had mentioned, one of the big challenges elephants
have historically faced is being poached for ivory. It's hard
to believe, but some poachers will illegally hunt and kill
elephants just to take their tusks only. And although this
is still a problem, the demand for ivory or tuss
has slightly gone down in the last few years, a
(27:02):
trend we hope to continue to see.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Oh yeah, definitely, And we need to mention that it's
things like World Elephant Day, raising awareness and large scale
public education programs across the globe that have helped people
change their behavior and slow down the demand for things
made of ivory like earrings.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Or necklaces, to large sculptures and so much more.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah, but the work isn't over yet. Of course, we
need to see that demand go down even further. I'd
love to see it go to zero in fact, because honestly,
ivory looks best and is most important to the elephants,
not to us for trinkets and decoration. You know, wildlife
conservation for elephants is a huge undertaking, pun intended. So
not only can our listeners help elephants by adding their
voice and raising awareness during World Elephant Day, but also
(27:45):
in supporting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and our many partners.
And you can find out more about our conservation efforts
and how you can help by going to SDZWA dot org. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
I mean, it's so exciting to see all that we're
doing and Rick that reminds me.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I mean, we did your day and now Elephant Day.
Of course.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Are we gonna visit one of our conservation hubs anytime soon?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Oh? So glad you asked, Marco. I just booked us
earlier today, in fact, a visit with the gorillas because
we're diving into the African Forest Hub next.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Ooh, right on, I know a few people that will
go ape over that topic. Oh brother, come on, you're
only mad because I did the pun before you go.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Okay, that's probably true. All right, amazing wildlife listeners be
sure to subscribe and tune into our next episode, which
Marko and I find out more about one of the
largest primates on the planet.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I'm Marco What and I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Thanks for listening. For more information about the San Diego
Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SDZWA
dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios.
Our supervising producer is Nikia Swinton and our sound designer
and editor is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
(28:58):
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Wuenel zis World. I'm Marco went.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncovered fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All Right, Rick, so you wrapped up our last episode about.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Tigers and International Tiger Day by letting everyone know that
we would spend this episode unpacking pacoderm facts and elaborate
on elephant information for World Elephant Day.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So what do you have in mind, friend, Well, to.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Be honest with you, Marco, it's a big topic with
a lot to cover, a trunk full of information. One
might say, okay, but all getting aside. Like we said
with International Tiger Day, World Elephant Day is a day
to help focus everyone's awareness on el and like tigers,
elephants face a wide variety of challenges, but there are
(01:05):
also a lot of great solutions we can do to
help support them.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh yeah, I mean, I know what you mean. We
mentioned wildlife trafficking.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
When we talked about tigers and elephants have had a
long history of challenges with poaching or illegal hunting of
them because some people want their tusks for ivory.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
All Drew Marco, so very true. And I want to
talk more about the many challenges elephant's face and the
many solutions we have found through elephant conservation. But before
we get into that, I would love for us to
learn more about elephants in general.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh yeah, that's a really good idea.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I mean, I don't know everything about elephants, but I
know a couple of cool facts, Like did you know
that the word pachoderm originally was used in the seventeen
hundreds as a part of taxonomy classification. It was once
a scientific order to describe a variety of hulled animals
like rhinos or tape air or bipotamus is, or elephants
(02:01):
and even horses and pigs.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, and it wasn't the word also based on two
Greek words or something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, totally, the word pacoderm.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's a combination of pakis meaning thick and derma meaning skin.
And although the scientific order is no longer used, because
we have more accurate taxonomy charts. Now the term is
still sometimes used in reference to elephants.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, there you go, and I also happen to know
a few facts about the largest living land mammal, but
I think our audience would probably rather hear from an expert,
so I have arranged for us to meet one of
our wildlife care specialists at the Safari Park who just
happens to be a part of the amazing team of
people who care for our elephant heard.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
All right, all right, let's go.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
I am Katie Aubischon, and I am a wildlife care
specialist with the elephants here at the Safari Park.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Thank you so much, Katie for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It's a beautiful day, always a beautiful day here at
the Safari Park.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Right, Well, Marco, it's a little more beautiful than usual. Hoy.
Don't you tell everybody where we are?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh? Yeah, we're in a really unique location.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Unofficially I kind of call this place the Meadow, but
for our guests, we've been here for a few years now.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The area used to be the old monorail path.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Behind what we refer to as Old Tigers and Old
Lion Area, So it's a beautiful spot. I'm looking at
some connifer trees. We're hearing the ravens Colin. You might
even hear a red shoulder hawk vocalizing a little bit.
And we're also behind Tiger Trail. There's that hawk right there.
So a lot of cool wildlife. And also for a
new guest who aren't familiar with the spot, we're actually
behind our new area called Tiger Trail, very unique area
(03:29):
that you can actually see a little bit when you
cruise around Tiger Trail. And we're also by the Elephant Barn,
which is why we picked out this really unique location.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Terribly convenient, don't you think.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I think so, But I think everyone loves it right
these unique spots around the park in this part for
me too, like the park being eighteen hundred acres, it's
just bread taking some of these special little spots around
the conservation park where you can get it really a
close look at nature.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We're getting distracted a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Let's ask Katie, Katy, I want to know obviously this
episode is about elephants. You have many years of experience
with elephants. I think the first thing I want to
ask ask you from your perspective, because both Mark and
I have backgrounds and animal care for many, many years,
what would you say is probably the most frequent thing
you hear from guests that is a misnomer or myth
or misunderstanding about elephants.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So several guests actually often refer to elephant tusks as horns,
and they're very different. Actually, Elephant tusks, or a lot
of people have referred to them in the past as ivory,
are made out of a type of dentin that are
continuously growing, much like I guess a horn for an antelope,
but very different makeup. And there's a very vascular pulp
(04:35):
that goes into that tusk.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Isn't the tusk actually considered a tooth.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yes, modified incisor yeah, so it's definitely dentin. So when
you hear of old pianos made of ivory, it's just
elephant teeth. You're tickling an elephant teeth right there.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
That's one way to put it.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, Katie, I got to ask you because you've been
here at the Safari Park was.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It two years now? Yes?
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Just about two years?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
That's amazing And can you tell us where did he
come from? Before that?
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I have worked with elephants since about twenty seventeen, and
right before this, I was in zue Atlanta working with
some elephants over there. A lot of people probably remember
Mischolo from the Safari Park here and he moved over
to zu Atlanta, so I also know big Boy Macholo.
So he's actually one of the reasons I decided to
(05:30):
move out here because he really drove my passion for
elephants home with how amazing he is.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
He talked about how great, yeah, yeah, he was, like
the beaches, the.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Weather, it's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Great.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I love that connectivity to different organizations working together, and
particularly with elephant conservation, right, and you were just talking
about ivory. Can you talk a little bit more about
that need or that impact that elephants are having with
wildlife trafficking too, Right, that's kind of a big issue
going on with this species.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Wildlife trafficking is affecting a lot of vannimals right now,
and one of the biggest things with elephants is poaching
for their ivory, and people are still buying it on
purpose or accidentally on the black market or just in
an antique mall. So it's definitely still a prevalent thing.
I think with African elephants right now, one of the
(06:18):
biggest things is habitat loss and human elephant conflict in
the sense of they're losing their homes and people are
just trying to live over in Africa with the elephants,
and sometimes they're doing it unsuccessfully.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, one of the great things we learned from a
previous interview in an earlier episode is how technology is
helping so many species and one of those things is
you know, satellite tracking callers for the elephants to get
an idea where those herds, what do they actually need
and where can populations of humans maybe live instead, and
you know, working with their natural needs and that sort
of thing. So it is a topic worth discussing, and
(06:54):
definitely it's great to see that so many people from
different walks of life, you know, engineers and robotics and
computer science is are helping out with that as well.
And that does play into World Elephant Day which is
coming up. And one of the reasons we want to
talk to you to learn more about elephants and talk
about things we need to raise awareness for what's going
on with them. And I led with that question about
what do you think most people would misunderstand or have
(07:16):
a myth about elephants, because I think speaking with you
offers up a unique opportunity for us and for our audience.
You know, Mark and I we've been around elephants before,
but it's fun to hear from the people who actually
spend their day with elephants, and that's not something too
many people get to do.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
I'm very lucky. I know that for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, and so I guess my next question. And I
know sometimes it's hard because we do this day in
and day out, we sometimes lose sight of how unique
it is. But what would for you, like, what's that
thing right every now? And you just stop and go, Wow,
this is my life. You know, when you're around elephants.
What is there any particular moments or something that happens
that you're spending time with these magnificent, intelligent animals that
you're like, Wow.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yeah, absolutely, I'm fortunate enough to have those experience is
on a daily basis when I'm working here. So these elephants,
they're brilliant animals and they have ginormous personalities. And when
you as a human click with an elephant and your
personalities mesh, even just for a moment or a training
(08:18):
session or a simple little walk by. It's just it's
We're lucky. We're very lucky.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It's surreal, I know, you know, this is exactly why
we do what we do.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Right, these special relationships that we start building with wildlife
and in part with all that conservation work that we
do too, it makes you, I mean selfishly right, It
makes it feel good that you're part of a greater
project taking care of the beautiful herd here at the
Safari Park, managing that wonderful herd, and also like being
connected to that conservation work.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
But I'm also I think right now, of all the kids,
I would just love to ask you all these questions
about elephants, and I have some of myself, so I
really want to tell me, friend, tell me your day,
your morning. What is like the first thing you do
in the morning when you take care of these amazing animals.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yeah, first thing is we'll pick up their food, their
bales of hay and their produce and get food together
for their morning. Elephants eat about sixteen to eighteen hours
a day, so that's the first thing we want to do,
and that's the first thing they want from us, of course,
because they've gone without seeing us for a couple of hours,
(09:20):
and we want to give them food right away, so
we'll stuff hay cubes for them or hay nets and
make sure we get food to them right away. And
like this morning, we tossed a couple of flakes of
hay to the elephants and that's how we said good
morning to them, and they were obviously very grateful and
thankful for the hey that they know is coming to
them every day. But it's just nice.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Such topic of starting with breakfast. Yes, I remember reading
somewhere that's like it's a couple hundred pounds of food
a day an adult elephant. You happen to that on
rof top of your head. I can look it up later,
but I'm just curious if you have to remember.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Yeah, it depends on the elephant. But we say about
one hundred and fifty for each adult.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
One and fifty pounds of food. And you got to
keep in mind that is hey, that's leafy material, so
it's not like it's a dense heavy but that's a
lot of volume. Is a lot of one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Pounds, Yeah, Honestly, I was going to make the joke
because I remember in days in the bird department going
in and grabbing my items for my birds, even a
big cassowary, whether it be a quarter of a watermelon
as an example. And then I see the elemphant crew
roll up there big, all trucks and cases of fruit
and veggies.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I mean, it is ridiculous amount of food. I see
you guys picking up in the morning.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
But it needs you, right, yeah, absolutely, And we're picking
up about right now, like seven bales of hay for
our eight elephant herd. And then of course Mousey gets
his own set of hay at the moment, so like
we're picking up a lot of hay, and then produce
is a whole other ballpark. So that's only a small
fraction of their diet. We only feed out a couple
(10:57):
pounds per elephant of that a day, only.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
A couple pounds.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
That's all just a couple of pounds full.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Of blueberries at breakfast, but a couple of pounds of food.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I mean, first noting to you, this is like the
largest land mammal on the planet, right, I mean, it
is an impressive species. And we were talking about giraffes
and tigers in the past two and for me, elephants
are one of those species. When you even say the
word to guess, their eyes just light up, you know.
So it's great to offer that experience here at the
Safari Park. Can you describe the herd a little bit
for our guests in case they're not familiar with the
(11:27):
herd that we have here at the Safari Park.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
We have nine African elephants here at the Safari Park
and there are ages range from about thirty three to
four almost five. Zuli actually turns five on World Elephant Day,
Oh right, yeah right, and then Makayah is six weeks
right behind Zuli, so that she's turning five in September,
(11:51):
and then we'll have little five year olds running around.
So our herd is really phenomenal. The three moms have
been here since two thousand and three, and the herd
has grown with them as they have had babies, and
we've had two males here that have helped with those babies,
and then they have since left and we've had I
(12:12):
think at one point it was eighteen elephants here and
now we're down to nine as we've moved elephants naturally
around throughout the country to help with that conservation action
we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, And I think that's worth noting too, is that,
you know, we all recognize that elephants are incredibly social animals.
But to your point saying that we had eighteen now
we have nine, is as the youngsters grow into adulthood,
often in the while the herds will split. Sometimes a
female will take some of the others with her and
she becomes the matriarch of her new split off herd.
(12:46):
Other times males will leave and create bachelor herds. And
that's what's really cool. You had mentioned that, you know,
being into Atlanta, you worked with an elephant that had
been here. A lot of that work that we do
for conservation and for maintaining the health of the herds
is to also offer up those opportunities for herds to split,
and we follow the dynamics that they're showing us to
(13:07):
make that happen. I think that's so cool how that works.
And to what Marco was asking to talk about our
herd as well, I am curious as these youngsters now
get into that five six seven age range. Obviously we're
just beginning at turning five and whatnot. But what do
you expect to see from them as they're now kind
of coming out of that youthful toddler stage and now
(13:28):
they're starting that sort of I don't want to say,
maybe young teenager or preteen age at that point.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Yeah, we can expect to see these guys develop some
really cool personalities, and they already really have. We're already
seeing Makaia kind of try and find her way about
the herd and gain confidence with individual elephants. And she's
a very confident little girl, so she's going to do
(13:55):
really well with this herd. I can already tell she
has reverence from Swaze, our matriarch, and Indula is her aunt,
maybe not by blood, but active aunt, and those two
actively take care of her as well as of course
the other three juvenile girls, Cammy, Cosey and Nissa love
(14:15):
taking care of Makayah. And then of course I don't
want to forget Makaya's mom. I'mgani, who is the beautiful
big tusker we have here in our herd. So Makaia
is going to really find her own footing here in
her herd. Zulie, like I said, is Also, he's turning
five on World Elephant Day. He's very rambunctious, maybe not
as confident as little Makaia. He's much of a mama's boy,
(14:39):
but I think that's how his mom and doula really
likes it. And he'll come to his own eventually as well.
But we'll see how that goes for him.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I totally get that. I'm a mama's boy for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I'm actually right now where you're talking of thinking about
like these elephants growing up. We think of them like
either hatching or being born and learning how to walk right,
And I know some of our favorite tools like a
multi kit, you know, Leatherman is an example. But I'm
thinking with elephants, that's got to be their trunk, right,
I mean, is it like a thousand muscles in the trunk?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (15:08):
That's a complicated question, I'll be honest, okay, because an
elephant trunk is very complex and we have yet to
narrow down like an exact number on how many muscles
are exactly in an elephant trunk. We estimate about like
forty five thousand muscles, and like you can get into
more intense details about like one hundred thousand muscle units
(15:32):
and whatnot. But that trunk is pure muscle and it's
way more complex than we still even know about. So
we're still learning a lot about that elephantry.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, you bring up a good point because I think
sometimes people look at how the trunk moves and they
assume there must be some sort of bones in there
or something, because they can pick up trees and they
can knock things over and tear boulders out, and so
I think people look at that like, oh, it's like
a grasping tail that a monkey would have. It's got
these bones in it probably, Yeah, But you're right, it's
all muscle. It's all of it is.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It's literally just a nose. It's two nostrils at the
tip of that trunk and it goes all the way
up into their sinus cavity in between their two tusks,
and that's their nose. That's how they're able to smell.
But it's also how they're able to grasp and pick
up large tree branches or even just a small blade
of grass.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
That's what's so amazing exazzing.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Oh, I know, and do babies have to learn how
to use that trunk up? Is it kind of you
when you want some do that.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Yeah, I highly recommend going on YouTube and looking at
baby elephants playing with their trunk and learning how to
use it because it's so much fun. They really have
to learn how to suck up water with that trunk
and not drink it all the way up into their
nasal cavity. I don't know if you've ever accidentally done
that while swimming, or water up your nose. It's kind
(16:47):
of painful at first.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
So that brings up a good point.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
One of the myths I hear often is people believe
that they use their nose or their trunk like a
straw and they just drink right up from it into
their mouth. But you're sharing with us a perfect segue
into that, which is that it goes of the sinuses,
and the kids, the little ones have to learn how
not to do that, because they really just fill the
trunk up to a certain point and then turn around
and then blow that water into their mouths.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yep, exactly, they can hold. I think it's depends on,
of course, on the elephant and the size of their trunk,
but I've seen an elephant suck about two and a
half gallons up in one go with his trunk and
blow it into his mouth and that's how they they
drink water. It's very very cool.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Katie can ask you one of my favorite questions is
what's your favorite elephant behavior that you get to see?
Like for me, for birds, it's like bathing birds bathing,
they love it, absolutely love it. Yes, for elephants, what
is it for you? What's your favorite?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
I think it's got to be something similar to that.
I love watching them swim. We have a massive pool
in our elephant habitat. And when I see like all
eight of those elephants in that pool together, Yeah, getting.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Their swim trunks on an elephant kiki.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
They're trumpeting, they're obviously just having a good time, so
social bonding and playing together. And when you see the
babies playing with Big Swazi and just having a good time,
it's really enjoyable to watch.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Oh, that's awesome. It's a social structure too.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I want to point out, yes, I mean I love
it because you said the word matriarch, And in case
kids an't familiar with it, I mean it's a female
based social structure, right, So like I got my grandma
Ma have Wolita and my ideas, my aunts.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
It's kind of like that sort of scenario.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Right, Yes, And I think that's one of the things
that drew me to elephants originally, was their matriarchal society.
So a female is in charge kind of of the
family group of the herd of elephants, and usually it
tends to be the older female, the more wise female,
And it's fascinating watching these elephants just regard this female
(18:48):
so highly, and they have a lot of power in
their hands, and it's usually females that seem like they
are don't want the power, They're just there to keep
things in order. And that's kind of what I see
a little bit here with at least Swazi. It seems
like she's just the calm, cool, collected leader. She's just
here to keep everyone in order, and she's just a great,
(19:10):
great matriarch for our herd.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah. I remember when I was visiting our conservation partners
many many years ago, two thousand and nine, I think
it was in Botswana, and they were saying, how to
what you just said where you can always tell the
matriarch even in a new herd, because it's usually the
female that's the calmest and tends to be just observing
everybody else where. The ones that aren't in charge tend
to be a little more on edge about who's doing
(19:34):
what and where and am I gonna get in trouble
for doing this? But they were also saying that that
leadership is the female makes that decision when it's time
to move on, when it's time to go to the
watering hole, when it's time to go wherever. So it's
a really interesting setup to understand and learn the social
structure of the elephants. And I can really appreciate that
matriarchal position, being that once they're there, they're a little
more cool, calmic, collect because they know they're in charge.
(19:55):
No one can't ask any questions.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I mean, I guess I would be if I were
them too, But then you have a the whole weight
of the herd on your shoulders as well, so I
could see how that should also on the other side
of it be just as stressful.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
A little bit of pressure, yeah, pressure, yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Oh, And I mean it really highlights the importance of
those structures too, right when you think about like habitat
fragmentation or just families being broken up.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
It really affects those family units.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So it makes me really happy and thankful for you
and the crew for all the work that you're doing,
and all our conservation researchers that are Savannah Hub in
Africa as well, with all the work they're doing with elephants,
because we all know Rick and I and you that
it's a flag subspecies. I mean, helping out an elephant, man,
you're helping out so much wildlife. I can speak to
the birds, secretary, birds, penguins, I mean the whole right,
such a variety of wildlife that benefit humans included, right
(20:40):
for having elephants around.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yes, well, that's one of the big things we learned
a couple episodes ago was that it's the community conservation
that's really having the biggest impact. It's the people that
live amongst the wildlife that are really helping make the
biggest difference. And I think that's true for elephants as well.
Once we get a better understanding of how the communities
and the herds can all interact safely or live in
the same space safely, that really what's gonna be important.
And I know we're getting ready to wrap up here,
(21:02):
but I do have one other cool question I want
to ask because I think it's fascinating and I think
our kids that are listening might find it really interesting
as well when our kids are growing up. When we
were growing up, you lose your baby teeth, it wiggles
a little bit and it comes out, and then a
new one comes in later on another one's wiggly, and
we have twenty some odd teeth that we go through,
et cetera. But elephants are different. I remember the first
(21:25):
time I saw an elephant open its mouth. Yeah, I
was like, what in the world is in its mouth?
Because the way the teeth are structured. At first, it
just didn't make sense to me how that worked. Can
you tell us a little bit about the teeth and
the sense of how they're structured, and then what is
their cycle of losing teeth and how it's similar and
(21:46):
different than us.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I remember when I first saw inside of an elephant
mouth for the first time as well. And you would
think a massive animal would have more teeth than we do.
But elephants only have four teeth in their mouth, four
and they're about the size of small bricks, so that
makes up for the size of their mouth and to be.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Clear, it's a brick laying on its side. It's not
brick pointing up like we think. Maybe our teeth are
more pears right right, others are laying more. If it's
a brick visual you're thinking of, it's like a brick
laying flat, which gives it that surface for grinding.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Yes, it's like a molar, a very large molar, and
that's what it is used for for grinding up all
the hay and the leaf material and the bark from
the trees that we give them. And they actually get
six teeth in their lifetime, six sets. So they have
their baby teeth when they get their first baby teeth,
(22:43):
and then they lose those pretty quickly, and then they
have their second teeth, and as they get older, their
molars last longer. So instead of lasting only a year
when they have those first baby teeth, maybe their fourth
set will last ten fifteen years, depending on what they
eat and how they take care of them. And elephant
(23:04):
teeth are phenomenal. They are almost like a conveyor about
the new teeth come in from the back and push
those old teeth out and they flake off in big chunks.
So we've found a couple of elephant teeth out in
our yard here and there, and it's just so much
fun when we find we've found a big elephant too,
And then we all are checking each of our elephants mouths, like, oh,
(23:25):
it's not im Ghani's still not all of her teeth intact.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What side of mount for the tooth? Fair? You guys,
I don't even know right, feel like going right?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Like quarter? So maybe we'll leave it to the tooth.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
There you go there, and then what would you what
would the tooth lea an elephant like a couple of
flakes of hay?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Probably lucky.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Then one last question before we wrap up. I love
asking a wild life care specialists for you, obviously, just
listening to you share about what you know about elephants.
You're very you love them. What is it that gets
you up and going? And what's it like to know
that you're part of the bigger picture and not only
just taking care of the individuals here, but the impact
our elephants have on the visitors here and the impact
(24:11):
the researchers have that work with your elephants for elephants
all over the world.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Absolutely, that's a wonderful question. I personally enjoy elephants every
day I come to work because I get to connect
with these animals in a unique way, and I know
that my work impacts them on the day to day
and I want to do better every day for this herd,
for these animals individuals, and then in a bigger, broader sense,
(24:38):
one of my favorite things is sharing these elephants with
the guests that come to the park and watching them
light up when I tell them a story about elephants
bathing and having a pool party or going into the
mud and throwing mud all over themselves. And watching the
guests connect with the elephants that way, and knowing that
I maybe helped them with that A little bit a
(25:00):
little selfish on my but it me up in the morning.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, that's worth dorowning.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
You and guests are just part of this experience, not
just a wide love care crew. But also you know,
kudos to your nutritional services are making those amazing diets right,
horticulture for helping you out allulture.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Right props or horticulture.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
But everybody and especially you, guess up there, I know.
Come to the Safari Park of the San Diegazoo this
summer celebrate World Elephant Day, right, and just get connected
to these projects that we do all over the world,
and especially with these amazing packaderms.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Yes, please do well.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Thank you so much, Katie. You really appreciate you spending
time with us today.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Thank you both.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
This was fun.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Hey, thanks man.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
It was so great talking to Katie and I really
liked how she shared with us a unique brick like
teeth and the multiple sets of teeth elephant have.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
And how she described the nuances of the trunk thousands
of muscles, no bones, and yet still able to uproot
trees or pick up a single blade of grass.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Oh yeah, and what was it around like one hundred
and fifty pounds of food a day?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I mean, no wonder the use tracts to clean up back.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
All right, so true. Now, our talk with Katie was
what I was hoping it would be. It gave us
more of a personal look at elephants and hopefully allowed
our listeners to feel a little more connected to the
elephants through Katie. And that's important because the day after
this episode comes out is World Elephant Day, like we
mentioned at the beginning of the show.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yeah, exactly right, Rick and World Elephant day is set
aside for everyone to come together and remind the world
that elephants they really need our help.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I mean the preservation of.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Habitat, minimizing human elephant conflict, and making sure we all
work together to create a world where all life can thrive.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
It's really important, well said Marco, very well said. And
like Katie had mentioned, one of the big challenges elephants
have historically faced is being poached for ivory. It's hard
to believe, but some poachers will illegally hunt and kill
elephants just to take their tusks only. And although this
is still a problem, the demand for ivory or tuss
has slightly gone down in the last few years, a
(27:02):
trend we hope to continue to see.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Oh yeah, definitely, And we need to mention that it's
things like World Elephant Day, raising awareness and large scale
public education programs across the globe that have helped people
change their behavior and slow down the demand for things
made of ivory like earrings.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Or necklaces, to large sculptures and so much more.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah, but the work isn't over yet. Of course, we
need to see that demand go down even further. I'd
love to see it go to zero in fact, because honestly,
ivory looks best and is most important to the elephants,
not to us for trinkets and decoration. You know, wildlife
conservation for elephants is a huge undertaking, pun intended. So
not only can our listeners help elephants by adding their
voice and raising awareness during World Elephant Day, but also
(27:45):
in supporting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and our many partners.
And you can find out more about our conservation efforts
and how you can help by going to SDZWA dot org. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
I mean, it's so exciting to see all that we're
doing and Rick that reminds me.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I mean, we did your day and now Elephant Day.
Of course.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Are we gonna visit one of our conservation hubs anytime soon?
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Oh? So glad you asked, Marco. I just booked us
earlier today, in fact, a visit with the gorillas because
we're diving into the African Forest Hub next.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Ooh, right on, I know a few people that will
go ape over that topic. Oh brother, come on, you're
only mad because I did the pun before you go.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Okay, that's probably true. All right, amazing wildlife listeners be
sure to subscribe and tune into our next episode, which
Marko and I find out more about one of the
largest primates on the planet.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
I'm Marco What and I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Thanks for listening. For more information about the San Diego
Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SDZWA
dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios.
Our supervising producer is Nikia Swinton and our sound designer
and editor is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
(28:58):
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.