By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-900707.mp3
Dallas, TX – Jenny the Elephant is in her new habitat at the Dallas Zoo: the Giants of the Savanna exhibit - which opens to the public May 28th. KERA's BJ Austin says Jenny moved in this morning.
Zoo director Gregg Hudson says it's a huge change for Jenny, who has spent 23 years in a small pen, much less than an acre. He says he was surprised how well Jenny and her younger companion Gypsy reacted.
Hudson: Well, they've been in the water already, and that's amazing. We've had the other four here for a couple of weeks, and they haven't even gotten in the water yet. So they're already in the water, and they're playing with the sand. They're exploring everything.
Hudson says Jenny and Gypsy will meet the four "newest" elephants in the habitat soon: all females 30 to 40 years old. The Zoo is calling them the Golden Girls. All of them will be closely monitored.
Hudson: We're going to be monitoring with GPS tracking how far they're going each day. We've got certain hormone levels and things in their blood that we'll be measuring, as well as behavioral things. We'll be watching the socialization; the dynamics of a herd.
Construction of the much larger, habitat - 15 times bigger -- was put on the fast track nearly two years ago after a high profile campaign to move Jenny from her cramped pen to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.