Tamani
Tamani (born October 17, 2005 at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida) is a male African Bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and former resident of the Birmingham Zoo's Trails of Africa exhibit, where he was exhibited with other males as part of a "bachelor herd".
Tamani is the son of the herd's patriarch, Bulwagi, and "Ellie", another resident of the Lowry Park Zoo, who was artificially inseminated. He was the first elephant born in the Tampa area. His name, which means "hope" in Swahili, was chosen from 600 entries in a contest open to all area schoolchildren. Tamani remained on exhibit there until he was transferred to Birmingham in 2012. At the time of his arrival in Birmingham, Tamani stood about 6 feet tall at the shoulders and weighed around 3,855 pounds.
Tamani was sent to the Kansas City Zoo in Kansas City, Missouri in 2015. There he was initially exhibited with a small group of older female elephants in anticipation of socializing him to breed with a younger female to be transferred later. The zoo's "Elephant Expedition" exhibit was improved and enlarged in 2020. The herd was joined by two more females: Christie and her daughter, Zuri from the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2023.
References
- Graham, Kevin (October 19, 2005) "205 pounds of cute" Tampa Bay Times
- Thornton, William (June 22, 2012) "Fourth elephant getting acquainted at the Birmingham Zoo." The Birmingham News
External links
- Birmingham Zoo website
- Tamani at the Elephant Database