Ever see elephants dig sushi? These photos show Zoo Miami animals puzzle over treats
As Zoo Miami prepped its week-long celebration of Earth Day that culminates with a Party for the Planet Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Ron Magill sent a series of photos of its Asian elephants enjoying sushi rolls.
But not the kind of sushi rolls we enjoy at Shinju Japanese Buffet.
Rather, Magill, the zoo’s spokesman and photographer and all-around animal expert, is talking about a “sushi roll” its elephant team developed at the zoo.
This roll is a large plastic tube with holes drilled into it where the Asian elephants’ keepers hide treats such as grain, fruits and vegetables dispersed into hay. Then, thanks to a donation of tires from the Bean Automotive Group, these tires were slipped over the tube to create barriers to the access points.
The “elephant sushi rolls” were puzzle feeder that Zoo Miami’s Asian elephants Dalip, 55, and Nellie, 53, enjoyed Thursday. The pair had to use their trunks to figure out how to get to the treats buried within the “roll” by moving the tires and exploring through the various openings in search of their rewards, Magill explained.
Zoo Miami’s Party for the Planet Weekend events are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24, and includes, for humans, a scavenger hunt that’ll yield a Zoo Miami-themed prize. Guests can also enter the zoo for free if they turn in a cellphone as part of Zoo Miami’s phone recycling program.
Magill said the donated cellphones can help endangered gorillas by hopefully reducing the need for coltan — a mineral extracted in the deep forests of Congo in Central Africa.
