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Sue Tygielski, Reid Park Zoo’s elephant manager, has the skinny on ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s big baby.

Age: Seven months on Friday.

Weight: About 710 pounds. Remember when she weighed 245 pounds in August?

Party animal: For her 6-month birthday, Nandi got a taste of the good life. The zoo threw her two birthday parties, where she had a grand old time whacking “piñatas.� See a photo gallery at

“She loves smashing boxes and then walking and rolling on top of them,� Tygielski says in an email.

A picky eater no more: Beyond nursing, Nandi is now munching on produce, hay and leaves.

New rules: “She is starting formal training,� Tygielski says. “The expectation is that she cannot bolt onto exhibit from the barn without her trainer and her mom. If she runs out ahead of us, we have to wait for her to come back into the barn and then she and her mom go out together. Getting her to stay with her trainer is the beginning of teaching her other behaviors, but the first is that she has to stay with her trainer until the trainer says it’s OK to go. Hard when you’re little and impatient.�

Taking a swim — or not: As the days warm up and other animals at the zoo get back to splashing, Nandi’s keepers want her to do some watery wandering. But mom Semba has other ideas. “Nandi wanted to explore the pool ledge with her brothers, but Semba repeatedly used her foot to back Nandi away from the pool,� Tygielski says. “We recently cleaned it and want to try and get her in it so we can feel confident that she can swim (before we fill it full) — but Mom won’t let her near it.� Tygielski says Nandi is a committed mud wallower, often diving in the dirt even when the other elephants have no interest.

“Her new favorite thing to do is throw herself on top of a little dirt or sand hill and slide down.�