Asian Elephant calf Kanlaya is continuing to do extremely well and is a healthy and confident calf. Born on 14 June 2018, Kanlaya has just passed the four-month mark and her personality is really starting to come through. Kanlaya loves leading the herd out into the paddock every day, moving at full speed to get in and enjoy the day. She loves to play in the sand piles out on exhibit, and often rolls around in the sand first thing. She has grown more confident in venturing away from Porntip and loves to play with Sabai, her older cousin who is nearly two years of age. 

Kanlaya enjoys interactions with us when we bath her mother Porntip in the mornings. Kanlaya still relies on Porntip’s milk, consuming about 7-8 litres a day. She has also started to consume some of Porntip’s faecal output, this is a natural behaviour and crucial in her development. This helps her slowly adjust to eating solid foods and build a healthy digestive system so she can digest solid foods without complications. Kanlaya has also played around with small bits of food such as apple and sweet potato and loves ice blocks as the days are slowly get hotter.

By Elephant keeper Christina Nicholas