Video of a baby elephant playing in a pool has made quite a splash online after the Fort Worth Zoo showed off its newborn pachyderm to the world.
The baby elephant, Belle , was born July 7, marking quite a milestone for the zoo. She was just the second Asian elephant born in the Fort Worth Zoo’s 104-year history and one of a small number for the endangered species.
On Tuesday, as temperatures topped the 100-degree mark in the Fort Worth area, officials at the zoo decided to let the baby elephant take a dip in a children’s inflatable pool.
The baby elephant jumped right in, splashing and playing in the pool to the delight of crowds. Belle took turns playing with her mother, Rahsa, and dipping her trunk and body in the cool water.
By close to halfway through the two-minute video, Belle had splashed close to all the water out of the pool, so zoo officials turned on a hose and tried to refill it from a distance. This seemed to delight both Belle and her mother, who tried to intercept the cool water for herself.
Though the video showed the baby elephant in the pool dwarfed by her much larger mother, zoo officials said Belle is actually growing at a very fast rate. Already 330 pounds when she was born, Belle is putting on weight at a rate of about two pounds per day, said zoo spokeswoman Katie GIangreco.
The spokeswoman added that Belle is “curious and full of personality, learning new things every day, learning what her trunk is for, learning to use her legs.”
Judging by how well the baby elephant moved in the pool, she’s getting a pretty good idea of what to use her trunk for.