How scientists and four elephants in California could help calves around the world.
Elephant keepers Mistley Bennett, left, and Mindy Albright milk Umngani at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. By Tony Perry April 8 at 11:51 AM SAN DIEGO — On a chilly, breezy morning at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, an African elephant named Umngani was ready to nurse her hungry calf, Mkhaya.
Mindy Albright, the lead elephant keeper, reached through and gently began “expressing” one of Umngani’s nipples. Milk squirted into a small, sterile cup. A third keeper comforted 6-month-old Mkhaya, who waited nearby, impatient to nurse. The milk will be analyzed by zoo staff and milk researchers at the University of California at San Diego and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo milk repository. The project is being watched closely by staff at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in northern Kenya, where 15 calves are struggling to grow healthy enough to return to the wild.
The first few drops of milk are watery and almost clear. Then the milk begins to have a higher fat content. The process is meant to be gentle but quick — a minute or two. Michael Power, animal scientist at the Smithsonian repository, is enthusiastic about the project but also cautious about what it will yield.
When a zoo newborn cannot be nourished by its mother’s milk, keepers scramble to find a substitute. This happened with the 2017 arrival of a premature baby hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, which then sent hippo milk to the National Zoo for analysis.
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