Zoo makes elephantine snacks
At 82, she is the grand old lady of Nehru Zoological Park. And being an elephant, she is blessed with a long memory.
For Rani, the oldest of five elephants in the zoo, Wednesday was special as it marked the World Elephant Day. But despite her age, and legs needing medical care, she just showed how clever an elephant can be.
To celebrate their special day, the zoo staff prepared some special treats for them and set up a buffet, that included sugarcane, fruits, fresh leaves of their choice and cakes made-to-order with ragi and rice and topped off with fruits, vegetables, sprouts and corn among other things, for each of the five pachyderms Vijay (34), Asha (50), Rajini (50), Seetha (50) and Rani (82).
But Rani, refused to eat the cake made for her and instead dipped into those made for the others in her ‘herd’.
“Rani smelt the medicines and multivitamins mixed into her cake and placed inside the fruits. She is very clever and does not like the smell of medicines and so dipped into the clean cakes made for Rajni and Asha,” zoo curator N. Kshitija told Deccan Chronicle.
In a video shared by the authorities, Rani was seen avoiding her cake, and eating the ones next to hers.
“Every day we have to find new ways to get her to take medications. And she is always one up on us.
Every day, we have to learn a new trick to make her take her medicines and she catches up with it so we can’t repeat,” Kshitija said.
“Rani,” the curator said, “is retired. She has issues related to arthritis that we are treating and getting opinion on her treatment from experts in Karnataka.”
It might be recalled that Rani was gifted to the zoo by the Nizam.
That’s not all, Upasana Kamineni Konidela, the vice-chairperson of the Apollo Foundation and Apollo Life, had adopted Rani for one year by paying `5 lakh.
FOR RANI, the oldest of five elephants in the zoo, Wednesday was special as it marked the World Elephant Day. But despite her age, and legs needing medical care, she just showed how clever an elephant can be.