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Three new Asian elephants join the Smithsonian National Zoo

WTOP Staff | WTOP_Web_Team@wtop.com

June 23, 2014, 12:31 PM

The National Zoo's three new female Asian elephants: Kamala, 39, Swarna, 39, and Maharani 23, made their public debut at the zoo for the first time Monday, June 23.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
''She's got a little piece of her trunk missing and a notch in her ear. She looks really wrinkly and saggy and old for her age. She's not aging well, but she's very, very sweet,'' Colleen Baird of the Calgary Zoo says light-heartedly of mom, Kamala.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
The elephants are out of quarantine and exploring what keepers call Yard 3.
They'll open up more space to them as they get comfortable so as not to overwhelm them.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
On the right, Kamala, 39, is not aging well says Colleen Baird of the Calgary Zoo. Born around 1975, the pachyderm weighs approximately 7,200 pounds.
She has had 14 calves. Her second calf is Maharani, keepers say.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
''Swarna is very tiny and very quiet. She rarely makes any sounds where the other two are squeaky and stuff. She's the most adventuresome. She's very independent. Something that might be scary to the other two, she'll take it straight on,'' says Colleen Baird who managed the elephants in their former home at the Calgary Zoo.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
"Her daughter is turning 24 in July. She's a bit of a princess,'' Baird says of Maharani, who weighs approximately 9,000 pounds.
She is the tallest of the new additions and has had three calves but none survived, the zoo says.

(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
''It's very important we give them a really good quality of life and for elephants that means socialization. So we want to build a multi-generational related herd of elephants so there's mothers, daughters, sisters all living together,'' says Marie Galloway who runs the Smithsonian National Zoo's elephant herd.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
The new elephants will remain separated for a while from the existing herd. When they are introduced, Galloway says, there will be a barrier between them so neither group feels threatened.
''We'll initially introduce them through a 'howdy.' They can touch, see, smell but they're not in the same space,'' she says.

(Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)
Courtesy Jen Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo
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