Butch

You want to know more about elephants? I'll tell you more about elephants! Besides telling you that they are the coolest creatures ever, which we all already know, I will tell you that they have six sets of teeth in their lifetime and once the last ones have been worn down they pretty much have to eat mush and so soon after that happens is when they tend to die but they can live up to 70 years old. Their teeth are crazy looking, sort of like ribbon candy. And they only have four teeth. Two on top, two on bottom.




(these two pics are from the internet but all the rest are from my trip)

This is when we first were greeting Butch and putting him on the washing pad while our guide told us a bit about elephants in general.



Then they had us move away so they could "stretch him out" or make him lay down.





He could probably do this a lot quicker but he likes to take his time and he is always trying to maneuver closer to the mud which is why they need the two workers there to direct him.

When we were washing them the workers were feeding him. This kept him happy. However, he really enjoys being washed and it is really good for him and his skin. The skin has wrinkles that trap the water which helps protect his skin and keep him cool.





This next video is mainly just for Nicki and anybody else that wants to sit through a 7 minute slide show of me washing an elephant! It was my first time using the "scrapbook" feature on my video program so sorry about the weird automatic transitions that they put in. I should also probably apologize for the odd background music choices. Whatever.



My favorite part of the elephant is definitely his trunk. There are thousands of muscles in an elephant's trunk. He does not eat food or drink water through his trunk, he picks up the food with his trunk and puts it in his mouth. He sucks up water into his trunk and then squirts it into his mouth. He can use his trunk as a snorkel when he goes swimming.



After his bath they brought Butch back to the enclosure with the other elephants, the zebras, the water buffalo and the ostriches. There is one elephant who is new and follows Butch around like an annoying kid sister. She is a runt because she has food allergies so she was stunted during her growth period. Don't get me wrong, she's an elephant so she's still really big, but for an elephant she is small. They have figured out what she can eat and she is doing really well there. During the day all the elephants have to eat the certain hay that she can handle (otherwise she would get into their food and get sick) but at night they separate the elephants and they get to eat other food. Also, an elephants skin is too thick (an inch thick!) to do allergy testing so they just have to figure it out by seeing what makes her sick.

He then proceeded to cover himself with dirt. Again, picking it up with that amazing trunk of his and spraying it all over himself. The runt stood right next to him and closed her eyes so that she would get the benefit of the dirt bath without the work!

I'm not sure what else I can tell you. They just have an amazing vibe about them. I love you, Butch!