Snow fell in the San Diego Zoo’s Harry and Grace Steele Elephant Odyssey exhibit Wednesday, despite temperatures in the 60s. A holiday miracle? No, just a way to treat the pachyderms to a little holiday cheer as part of the Zoo’s inaugural holiday event, Jungle Bells.

      The elephants had a blast. They flapped their ears with excitement. They ran their trunks over the piles of snow looking for yams, carrots and celery hidden inside. Sumithi, a 42-year-old female Asian elephant, flipped a snowball at Tembo, a 38-year-old female African elephant. Devi, a 31-year-old female Asian elephant, blew the snow into the air like confetti. 

      “When they came out this morning and saw that blinding white in the yard, they knew something was going on and ran over,” said San Diego Zoo senior elephant keeper Ron Ringer. “One of the coolest things we did was put coconut and banana extract on the snow, so it’s a little like a giant elephant snow cone. The elephants got right in there and started eating the browse we had left for them on the snow and digging for the treats.”

      The Zoo used 160 500-pound blocks of ice to create the huge piles of snow for the elephants in two separate yards, one by the elephant pool and another on the other side of the elephant yard.  It took more than two hours to crush the ice and then blow the snow into the yards. 

    The Zoo also manages the 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, which includes a 900-acre native species reserve, and the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. The important conservation and science work of these entities is supported in part by The Foundation of the Zoological Society of San Diego.

video by: Chris Morrow

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