apples to oranges: Fun With An Eland

The Eland is a spiral horned antelope that lives in southern and eastern Africa. "Eland" is actually derived from the Dutch word for moose and came from Dutch settlers who named the largest wild herbivore they came across in Africa after the moose. An Eland bull is about 6 feet tall at the shoulder and can weigh up to 2,200 pounds. They are herbivores who live in large groups and are considered one of the slowest antelope species. Curious fact: The tendons or joints in the eland's forelegs make clicking noises, often notifying people of an approaching herd. No one really knows why this clicking occurs, but hypotheses have been made about communication between the animals.

As a group of interns, we were invited to make an enrichment item for a male Eland at Animal Kingdom. We submitted a lot of ideas and ultimately it was decided that we should make a "mistletoe". We crafted a PVC pipe with holes in it to hold bunches of lettuce, vegetable popsicles, and cut vegetables suspended in gelatin. All of these items were to be secured with banana leaves and tied to the pipe.

The male Eland that we met was named JC and he is currently living in a back area of Animal Kingdom. He has some arthritis in his joints and with the cold weather Florida has been having lately, JC hasn't been feeling too well. We were happy to see that on the morning we went it was sunny out and in the high 60 degree temperatures. The warmer weather meant that JC was moving about without much difficulty and would have a chance to explore our creation.

Overall it was a successful trip. JC spent a lot of time investigating the "popsicles" and vegetables inside the gelatin (lots of sniffing). He ate the lettuce while we were there, but we had to leave before anything else happened. The woman working with JC told us later in the day that he finished his lettuce, but didn't eat the gelatin. We don't blame him. It probably smelled weird.

Before leaving for Animal Kingdom: