PORTLAND, Ore. — Mamas-to-be, you know what the doctor says: Stay fit. Eat right. Don’t gain too much weight.
Same holds true if you’re a 7,660-pound pregnant Asian elephant, which explains why the Oregon Zoo’s Rose-Tu was cross training early Thursday: a little jogging, strength training, water aerobics, sit-ups, leg-lifts, stretching and — wait — was that a Pilates move?
Might have been. Girl’s gotta work her core if she’s to have a trouble-free labor and delivery, which is what zookeepers hope for Rose-Tu sometime between Aug. 21 and Oct. 10.
Rose, who will turn 14 on Aug. 31, was the last elephant born at the zoo. In the intervening years, those who care for captive pachyderms have learned that keeping females slim and toned during their approximately 22-month pregnancies improves outcomes. Mothers with poor muscle tone tend to have more difficult births.
So each day, Bob Lee and his elephant keeper colleagues turn into personal trainers.
A couple of hours before the zoo gates opened to the public Thursday, they moved Rose and the other females, Chendra and Sung-Surin, nicknamed Shine, into their exhibit’s front yard. Keepers placed two orange traffic cones at each end of the oblong, 8,500-square-foot yard.
“Tail up!” Lee demanded.
The girls, as keepers call them, lifted their stiff, scruffy tails: Rose twined her wrinkly gray trunk around Chendra’s tail and Shine grabbed Rose’s.
“Chendra,” Lee said, “let’s go, babe.”
Off they trotted, the youngest elephant setting a swift pace around the yard’s perimeter. As they ran, their freckled ears flapped like flags in a breeze. Dust billowed in their wake, yet despite their hulking size, the three made scarcely a sound. Their feet, big around as tree trunks, hit the ground in whispers.
After about 20 minutes of jogging with few rest breaks, the elephants huffed and puffed. All three, Lee said, have improved their fitness since last year, when the zoo learned Rose was pregnant. Keepers routinely exercised the animals, but the pregnancy prompted them to step up the program.
“Rain or shine, birthdays or holidays,” Lee said, “we’re out here exercising the elephants.”
They’ve kept Rose’s diet of vitamins, protein-laden grain, hay, fruit, vegetables and tree trimmings moderate to keep the fetus she carries at a healthy size. Calves that grow too big in utero can make births difficult, especially for a first-time mother, such as Rose.
Keepers have incorporated a handful of other birth-related routines into the elephants’ days. They handle Rose’s mammary glands, getting her used to the sensation in the event they need to attach a breast pump to extract her milk.
They also periodically separate Rose from Shine and Chendra. Usually, the three are inseparable, as elephant cows are in the wild. But zoo staffers have to plan for myriad possibilities during and after the calf’s birth. They might, for example, need to separate the animals if one gets aggressive with the defenseless calf, likely to weigh 200 to 300 pounds.
Unlike at some zoos, the elephants will not be tethered when the time comes. The birth plan calls for the three to be inside the elephant barn, with Shine and Chendra supporting Rose — keepers hope — as she endures labor and delivery.
In the meantime, boot camp continues. For Rose on Thursday, that meant following Lee’s commands.
“Salute,” he said. She lifted one foot and her trunk.
“Head down.” Rose bowed deeply.
“Lay down.” She slumped to the dirt.
“Sit up.” She rolled onto her ample rump, lifting her two front feet in the air, like a dog begging for a bone. Instead, Rose got a banana.
Warmed up, it was time for the heavy lifting. As Lee asked, Rose fetched a log that measured at least 10 feet long and 3 feet across.
“Head down,” Lee said. Push it.
Rose did, nimbly and powerfully. She shoved the log with her foot and pushed it with the top of her trunk across the yard and — whoosh! — into the swimming hole.
With a little coaxing and another whoosh, in went Rose, too.
“Rose, kick it!” Lee called. And like a mischievous kid in a public pool, she did, slapping the water with one leg and drenching Lee.
About 45 minutes after her workout began, Rose emerged from the pool, dripping.
“Rose,” Lee asked, “do you like exercise?”
The elephant shook her head side to side.
“Me, neither,” Lee said.
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