Guests visiting the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden can see Bowie, a 9-year-old male Asian elephant, who’s becoming a member of the elephant herd from the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
The suggestion for Bowie to be relocated got here from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan® (SSP) for Asian elephants.
Born on the Fort Worth Zoo in 2013, Bowie stands over 8 ft tall and weighs greater than 6,400 kilos.
The title Bowie was chosen in honor of legendary Texan Jim Bowie, who fought within the Texas Revolution, and follows a Fort Worth Zoo custom of giving every elephant a Texas-themed title starting with the letter “B.”
Bowie likes to play within the water and could be seen swimming nearly any time of the yr.
After a yr of planning, Bowie’s arrival is a excessive level in an in any other case troublesome week for the OKC Zoo’s elephant caretaking crew, which simply three days prior made the troublesome determination to humanely euthanize geriatric elephant Bamboo, 56.
“Although the elephant caretaker team is still mourning the recent loss of Bamboo, we are very excited about Bowie’s arrival,” mentioned Rachel Emory, the OKC Zoo’s curator of elephants and rhinos. “We have watched our young female elephants grow up here at the OKC Zoo and are thrilled at the prospect of them having calves of their own and grow our herd.”
Male elephants, also called bulls, within the wild are semi-nomadic, sometimes touring alone as adults and assembly up with females to breed.
As Bowie settles in to his residence right here, the knowledgeable animal care crew will start gradual introductions with the elephant herd. Guests might be able to see Bowie exterior quickly, relying on his degree of consolation and climate.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Asian elephants are an endangered species, with many threats to their survival.
Asian elephants dwell in a really densely populated part of the world. Asian elephants have misplaced over 90% of their historic habitat as a result of human enlargement and farming.
Asian elephants are additionally liable to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, a fast-moving elephant herpes virus that impacts wild elephants and people in human care, with an roughly 60% fatality charge.
In the final decade, the zoo has contributed greater than $400,000 to elephant-related conservation.
The zoo is open from 9 a.m. to five p.m. every day, with the final entry at 4 p.m.
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