Happy Birthday Zuri!

We hope someone around here has a couple elephant-sized candles on hand because today marks a very special day at Hogle Zoo - Zuri's 2nd birthday!

It's hard to believe that it was two years ago when a tiny elephant made her way into our world. But in two years, some truly incredible things have happened as we've watched Zuri progress from elephant baby to elephant two year old.

For starters, while Zuri started out much like any other baby - eating, sleeping, and staying close to mom - she's progressed in her two years. Yes, she still likes to eat, sleep and be close to her mom, but she's also having a lot of fun training with her keepers. Each day her keepers work with her to do things like showing her feet, spinning, stretching out, opening her mouth, and much more.

All of these movements enable her keepers to check her whole body every day to ensure she continues growing as a healthy young elephant.

One other thing you may notice now that wasn't exactly visible even half a year ago is Zuri's tusk! Yes, you can see it on the left side of her face and it is growing steadily. Pretty soon her other tusk will poke through and you'll be able to see them both before you know it.

Zuri has also grown to be very social with a special lady at Hogle Zoo - Dari! Zuri and Dari were finally introduced to each other, and it just so happens that they enjoy spending time together.

And, now that she's big enough, Zuri has been spending some of the hotter summer days in the pool yard, where she has been seen cautiously dipping into the shallow parts of the pool under the careful watch of mom.

A lot has happened in two years, and we're sure we will be saying the same thing another two years from now! But for today, a very happy 2nd birthday to our little girl Zuri!