Taronga Zoo elephants Pak Boon, Tang Mo move to South Australia

After more than a year of training to prepare them for the big day, Taronga Zoo Sydney’s last remaining elephants click-clacked their seatbelts on Tuesday and made the 22-hour journey to their new home in South Australia.

Female Asian elephants Pak Boon, 25, and Tang Mo, 31, set off on Tuesday morning on their 1300km vehicle-assisted migration*, which ended with them joining a new herd at Monarto Safari Park, southeast of Adelaide.

A Taronga spokeswoman said zookeepers had spent more than a year “crate training” the elephants so the animals would voluntarily* walk into the large containers, where they were safely buckled in.

“The crates were then lifted via crane onto awaiting trucks and departed Taronga Zoo Sydney,” she said.

The process of coaching the elephants had been long and arduous*, with keepers periodically coaxing* the pair into their containers with hay, as a form of reward-based training.

Upon entering the containers, the elephants had braces fastened to their ankles to serve as support for the bumpy journey.

The departure of Pak Boon and Tang Mo marks the first time in more than a century* Taronga has been without elephants.

Taronga’s first elephant, Jessie, arrived in Sydney in 1883 on a boat from Kolkata, which was then known as Calcutta*.

Jessie lived in the zoo’s former site at Moore Park in Sydney’s east until 1916, when she caught a ferry across the harbour to the current Mosman location, just as hundreds of thousands of visitors do every single year.

At the time of writing, Zoos SA had yet not responded to Kids News’ request for confirmation of the elephants’ safe arrival – no doubt too busy unloading their precious new cargo.

But at about 1pm on Wednesday, 7NEWS Adelaide posted an aerial photo of the truck entering Monarto Safari Park with a welcome message for the state’s new residents.

“JUST IN: Welcome to South Australia!” the 7NEWS post reads.

It goes on to say: “A pair of Asian elephants has safely arrived at Monarto Safari Park after a mammoth move from Sydney.

“Taronga Zoo Sydney’s Tang Mo and Pak Boon are joining Burma from Auckland and Permai from Perth to form a new South Australian herd.

“Putra Mas from Perth Zoo is expected to join the quartet later this year.”

The Kids News team wishes these majestic* giants a very happy new adventure in their new home, with plenty of room to roam.

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GLOSSARY

• migration: movement of animals or people from one place to another
• arduous: difficult, challenging, requiring effort and endurance
• voluntarily: done, made or given willingly
• coaxing: gently persuading, cajoling, carefully influencing someone to do something
• Calcutta: renamed Kolkata in 2001 by the West Bengal government to better reflect its original Bengali pronunciation, this large seaport city in India is the capital of West Bengal
• century: period of 100 years, also a batsman reaching 100 runs in cricket
• majestic: beautiful, powerful, or causing great admiration and respect

EXTRA READING

Entire elephant herd moves house

Elephant greeting not just ‘G’day’

China’s wandering elephants become global stars

QUICK QUIZ

1. What are the names of the last two elephants to live at Taronga Zoo Sydney?
2. How many kilometres did they just travel to their new home in South Australia?
3. In preparation for the long journey, trainers had spent a year doing what?
4. What was the name of Taronga’s first elephant and where did she come from?
5. Where was the zoo originally located and when did Jessie move to Mosman?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What would they say?
Imagine that you could interview Pak Boon and Tang Mo about the move for Kids News. Write at least three questions that you would ask them. Then write the answers that you think that they would give you.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

2. Extension
What does this story tell you about the ways in which zoos have changed over the last few years? Use information from the story and perhaps your own research to create an information poster that will help other kids understand the ways that priorities are changing at Australian zoos.

Time: allow at least 45 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science

VCOP ACTIVITY
Imaginative dialogue
Imagine you were there when the truck arrived at Monarto Safari Park after a 22-hour journey.

Create a conversation between two animals or human characters – you may need or want to include yourself as one of them. Don’t forget to try to use facts and details from the article to help make your dialogue as realistic as possible.

Go through your writing and highlight any punctuation you have used in green. Make sure you carefully check the punctuation used for the dialogue and ensure you have opened and closed the speaking in the correct places.