Celebrate Asian Elephants at the National Zoo

If you visit the National Zoo on August 23, 2008, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., you'll find out how it takes a whole zoo to care for elephants. The free event will feature animal demos, dance performances, activities, and fascinating displays. Watch the elephants as they are bathed, weighed, and trained to hold still for physical exams, weighing, and x-rays. Be sure to see Ambika (she turns 60 this year!) enjoy her birthday "cake," specially prepared by the Zoo's nutritionists.

The National Zoo has three Asian elephants: Kandula, a male, born in 2001; Shanthi, a female, born about 1975 and Ambika, a female born around 1948. The Zoo plans to breed the elephants and is in the process of designing a new state-of-the-art Elephant House to accommodate a multi-generational herd in the future.

_{Photo © Jessie Cohen/National Zoo}

See more photos of the Elephants at the National Zoo