We started off by making our own art with "handimals", the latest zoo concession craze. The artist takes your handprints (or those of your children) and turns them into the animals of your choice. Kind of like "Wild Kingdom" meets hand-turkeys. Howard and I made hand elephants (how surprising) in honor of our anniversary. We had our hands painted gray and then carefully set them down on paper as directed (I wanted our ellies facing each other, not one following the other). Off we went to explore the zoo and wait for time for our tour. We arrived just in time to watch the keepers do the elephant bath demo with Tombi again. After Labor Day there are no guest bathers, so the process is probably a bit more thorough.
We watched the ellies outside in their yard for a good while, watching the babies and mommies and aunties playing together. We hit the dolphin show again and this time the show was back in full force with lights and music (last time it was more of a demo due to a recent birth). The show was different but not as entertaining as the demo.Back to pick up our handimal art -- wow! Exceeded my expectations. Of course, it isn't the handimals that are so expensive.... it is the matting and the framing, etc. I absolutely love the result.
Finally, time for the elephant backstage tour. An education staff member came and got us and walked us to the elephant barn. Since it was so windy out, we were getting to visit the barn, an off-limits area. There are no indoor viewing exhibits at Indy in the African section.... they just close it in the winter. We came in the door the the keeper kitchen and I was initially really disappointed. The "OMG I have to slug through this demo again" attitude was clearly present on our keeper. After we started, and she realized I wasn't a total elephant newbie, the temperature warmed up considerably. We talked about the artificial insemination program, the species survival plan, elephant exhibits throughout the midwest, etc. It was really nice. We were asked to pick the colors for our elephant work of art. I picked gray, blue and yellow, to be applied in that order.
Moving into the barn, the keepers brought Tombi out and put her through her commands for us.
The lighting was horrible for pictures (bright sun coming in through the barn door) which in a way was great so I could focus on watching our girl go through her paces and interact with her keeper. They set up the easel and put paint on a brush and let her make a few strokes in gray. After wiping her trunk off (to avoid elephant snot on the canvas), they switched colors. Tombi seemed to have a "J" motion down pat, with a special little flourish at the end of the stroke. For the final color, the keeper switched the canvas 180 degrees to get paint on the other part of the canvas. Consequently, Howard and I can't decide which way it really goes. I think it is a self-portrait.
After we were finished we had a chance to touch Tombi and thank her and take pictures next to her. We followed up with a few minutes seeing the rest of the barn, including precious baby Nyah who had come inside with her Momma. It was so cool to see how protective Mom was when Nyah showed an interest in the strangers in her barn.
We had a few last questions for discussion in the keeper kitchen and then we were finished, left holding our damp canvas and laughing about what an absolutely expectation-exceeding experience this all had been. I had a hard time identifying which aspect of the experience was the best... the private demo by Tombi, the painting, or the chance to seriously sit down and talk ellie with the keepers. I was able to ask about Indy letting the public touch their elephants. The answer was pretty much "we know most people wouldn't do it but we do and our elephants are carefully chosen and groomed for this contact."Until next time Tombi and friends..... until next time.
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