OKC Zoo's newest elephant calf continues to bond with herd

Now two weeks old, the Oklahoma City Zoo elephant herd's newest member, Xerxes, is starting to fit right in with his big family.

SEE ALSO: Oklahoma City Zoo welcomes birth of new Asian elephant calf, Xerxes 

On Tuesday, the Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages Porch traveled out to the zoo to speak with Xerxes' handlers to learn more about the growing calf.

Rachel Boyd, the zoo's elephant curator, says they are so excited to have Xerxes.

"Xerxes and his mom, Achara, are doing great," Boyd said. "We are so excited to have him as our newest addition to our Asian elephant family group.

Boyd said over the last two weeks, Xerxes has hit many milestones the zoo would hope for in a newborn elephant.

"He's nursing regularly, he's socializing wonderfully with his family group," Boyd said. "He's directly under his mom, Achara, currently, but he's also out here with his grandma Asha, and then his aunts Rama, Kairavi and Chandra."

Despite the smaller stature compared to the adult elephants, Xerxes is not as small as he appears, according to Boyd.

"He may look small, but he does weigh 275 pounds, which is pretty typical for an Asian. elephant calf," Boyd said.

As zoo caretakers continue to monitor Xerxes' progress and regularly check up on the young elephant, Boyd said most of the legwork is carried by his mother.

"Right now, mom is carrying a lot of the weight, in that she is doing a great job caring for him," Boyd said. "He's exclusively nursing from her, he's starting to learn how to use his trunk and pick up objects and branches and things, but it will be a few more months before he actually starts eating solid food."

Boyd said she and her team place equal importance in taking care of both mother and offspring.

"We just make sure that we're taking really good care of mom," Boyd said. "She gets a very nutritious diet. We do health checks on every elephant twice a day; they participate in voluntary training, so we're very hands-on with the elephants."

Boyd also said, in contrast to the human-elephant dynamic at the zoo, one of the main obstacles to elephants in the wild is other people.

"Asian elephants live in Asia, where the population is growing, and the habitat space, unfortunately, is shrinking rapidly," Boyd said. "They often come into contact with humans, and this creates conflict over food, resources and space."

One of the main points of conflict involves the impact elephants have on farmland, when, unknowingly, elephants will feast on crops meant for human consumption.

To raise awareness of the risks elephants face in the wild, Boyd said the zoo's Sri Lanka Elephant Project works to closely study the dynamics between elephants and humans.

Visit the Sri Lanka Elephant Project website to learn more.