ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

Mapenzi — Penzi for short — was born to African elephant Semba on April 6. Mapenzi joined dad Mabu, sister Nandi, brother Sundzu and aunt Lungile at the zoo.

The Star is documenting Penzi’s milestones each month until she is 1 year old.

Penzi’s love of food

Although Penzi is still nursing, she’s becoming more food-focused.

“She’s starting to work harder to maintain her weight with food,� says elephant supervisor Cassie Dodds. “She’s really focused on eating and spending a lot of her time eating pretty much anything that’s edible.

“She used to be a little bit picky, but now she’s going for pretty much everything,� Dodds says.

Penzi’s current favorite snack is cucumbers — though Dodds says that could easily change tomorrow.

Zoo staff have also incorporated fun feeding strategies for the elephants, giving them the chance to forage for food themselves.

One of those strategies includes a cube-shaped feeder stuffed with hay and other treats. It has a hole just big enough for an elephant’s trunk to fit inside.

“They have to turn the cube and get their trunk in just right,� Dodds says.

Keepers built a tiny version for Penzi that has a hole the size of her trunk. Dodds says she’s been getting lots of use out of it.

Learning her manners

Like most kids, Penzi also has to learn her manners.

“(Penzi’s) relationship with her sister is becoming a little bit more advanced,� Dodds says. “Nandi used to baby her — she would be very protective and careful when she was playing with her. But recently, she’s been taking on a role of teaching Penzi her manners.�

For example, if Penzi invades Nandi’s space, Nandi will essentially use her body and ears to tell her little sister to take some steps back.

“She definitely likes to let Penzi know if she’s being inappropriate — but in an appropriate way,� Dodds says.

“Elephants learn etiquette and proper manners from their families — everything from how to move around each other to how to move across the environment to find food and water.�

Despite the lessons in etiquette, Penzi still spends most of her playtime with Nandi. She’s also spending more time with her older brother Sundzu and is becoming a bit more independent from her mom.

Training sessions

As for those training sessions, which are voluntary for the elephants and are done through positive reinforcement, Penzi continues to improve. Training sessions allow keepers to evaluate the elephants and ensure they’re healthy.

She’s been coming when her name is called and listens during “target training,� which is an exercise that helps teach the elephants to follow the keepers. She’s also becoming more patient.

Penzi is able to put her trunk back when given a cue, which allows keepers to look at her mouth and tongue. Penzi has also learned to open her mouth when given a cue from keepers.

Penzi’s 1st snow encounter

Just like everyone else in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, the elephants were more than thrilled with ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s recent snow day.

Most of the zoo animals decided to stay in their heated night houses when it began snowing, but the elephant herd decided to stay out and play in the flurries.

“It was really fun to watch how excited they were when it was snowing,� Dodds says. “I related that back to my kids and how excited they were when they saw snow.�

“(Penzi) had a blast that day,� Dodds says. “We were watching the weather and as soon as the snow started coming down, she got really excited — running around and slipping around in the mud.

“They really seemed to notice that it was something different in their environment.�

Zoo staff filmed part of the snow day, giving ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans the joy of seeing how much fun the elephants had. The video made its way around the world and was picked up by many news outlets.

“It’s really special to the elephant team and everybody here at the zoo to be able to make that connection and connect Penzi to our community and connect people all around the world to wildlife,� Dodds says.