Andrew worked closely with Anjalee for nearly six months at Sri Lanka's Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, then for another three on Niue while Anjalee was in quarantine. He's had to assess her suitability as a companion for Burma, who of course he knows well after 15 years working together.
The elephant introductions started slowly with visual contact while in separate stalls with an empty one in between, then in neighbouring stalls before heading outside together. Andrew says once they got a little closer, the two elephants started vocalising and touching one another. They've even linked trunks which in the elephant world is a gesture of trust and friendship.
To celebrate the arrival of only the sixth elephant in the zoo's 90 years, we were joining the It's all about Elephants programme of holiday events. Miss 6 took to a round-the-zoo puzzle with such enthusiasm it was hard to keep up with her.
The kids must find missing letters to solve a simple sentence. At each station there's a wealth of amazing elephant facts to discover, along with a new letter. We learned elephants can weigh up to 6000kg (Burma is a light weight at 3300kg and Anjalee positively svelte at 1700kg), they eat 120-300kg daily and have to poo every two hours. This manure can be turned into garden fertiliser, like it is at Auckland Zoo, or a range of paper products. There's an attention-grabbing explanation of how this is done in Sri Lanka (10kg of elephant dung produces 660 A4 sheets of paper), which makes one wonder whether it's actually better than cutting down trees.
My highlight was the photography exhibition Elephant Memories, showing how the relationship between people and elephants at the zoo has changed. Both recent and historical photos (some from the Herald) feature, which took me back in time but also reminded me how the focus has changed to conservation.
Auckland Zoo has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to elephant conservation, education and research; $1 million a year helps protect wildlife, including Asian elephants, in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Sumatra.
Anjalee is the first of two elephants who will come to Auckland from Pinnawala; the zoo only accepts elephants with no prospect of release to the wild.
The modern zoo philosophy is that people need to care for and establish emotional connection to wildlife in order to be concerned enough to take action to prevent further extinction. Watching Anjalee play, take in her surroundings and interact with Burma and the zookeepers, one can't help but feel that this precious pachyderm is going to be a terrific ambassador for her species.
Need to know
It's All About Elephants interactive holiday programme and Elephant Memories runs until July 19. Join the ASB Family Fun weekend today and tomorrow. Everyone who visits Auckland Zoo up until July 19 has the chance to win a trip for four to Niue thanks to Niue Island. Full details at aucklandzoo.co.nz.
