A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
My boy Nicholas. Good for you, hoss!!!!!
Above is Nic, first elephant on the left at the Hawthorn Corp. Below is a clip of Nic in Calif. that I watch first thing every morning upon arising. How can I not be happy for him?
Anonymous, Fat and short neck, he always has had, although for my taste he is a bit "tubby" in the video, but he was always a good, good keeper. Probably wouldn't have made the grade as a Temple elephant, but I promise he could have pushed and pulled a load of teak. Nic always had a beautiful pigmented face, ears, and neck usually with a few extra rolls. He also has prominent twin domes and convexity at the base of the trunk reminiscent of Raja Gaj and Kansha at Bardia Nation Park in Nepal. Hagenbecks Hussein is another one with this "look."
Nic has always been fascinated with running water, as you see him playing with the inlet jet here. After the morning muck out I would give him the hose, and he would stand on it, and hold the end up under his neck and spend about an hour stepping on it, and releasing it, stepping on it, and releasing it shooting it up under his neck. When he tired of that he would throw the hose out of his pen, and that meant he was ready for his bath. He'd squeal and chirp and act the fool, and twist himself into the goofiest Gumby poses you can imagine. He would put his forehead on the ground and slid him self across the floor trying to get his back leg up around his ear, then drop on his behind, with one foot planted between his legs and the other raised, and spin himself around and around in circles. When he was finished, he would back up to me and drop his schwanz, and I would have to take a hold of it and wash it up and down real good while Nic lowered his head and emitted a low, low rumble. I never let any one see me doing that, so it is just between you, me, and the fence post. When Nic left, my son Eric said he was glad because he probably would have killed me one day. Eric said, "Pops, you can't see your face. When you are in the pen with him, you look at him like he is some kind of super hero." That's probably true, because I sure loved him. A male elephant will mesmerize and hypnotize you with their quiet grace. They will sure lure you into a false sense of security. Wade
dude's got a fat neck
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteFat and short neck, he always has had, although for my taste he is a bit "tubby" in the video, but he was always a good, good keeper. Probably wouldn't have made the grade as a Temple elephant, but I promise he could have pushed and pulled a load of teak. Nic always had a beautiful pigmented face, ears, and neck usually with a few extra rolls. He also has prominent twin domes and convexity at the base of the trunk reminiscent of Raja Gaj and Kansha at Bardia Nation Park in Nepal. Hagenbecks Hussein is another one with this "look."
Nic has always been fascinated with running water, as you see him playing with the inlet jet here. After the morning muck out I would give him the hose, and he would stand on it, and hold the end up under his neck and spend about an hour stepping on it, and releasing it, stepping on it, and releasing it shooting it up under his neck. When he tired of that he would throw the hose out of his pen, and that meant he was ready for his bath. He'd squeal and chirp and act the fool, and twist himself into the goofiest Gumby poses you can imagine. He would put his forehead on the ground and slid him self across the floor trying to get his back leg up around his ear, then drop on his behind, with one foot planted between his legs and the other raised, and spin himself around and around in circles. When he was finished, he would back up to me and drop his schwanz, and I would have to take a hold of it and wash it up and down real good while Nic lowered his head and emitted a low, low rumble. I never let any one see me doing that, so it is just between you, me, and the fence post. When Nic left, my son Eric said he was glad because he probably would have killed me one day. Eric said, "Pops, you can't see your face. When you are in the pen with him, you look at him like he is some kind of super hero." That's probably true, because I sure loved him. A male elephant will mesmerize and hypnotize you with their quiet grace. They will sure lure you into a false sense of security.
Wade