This Wednesday, June 14 marks a very special day for the Asian Elephant herd at Taronga Western Plains Zoo – it’s Kanlaya’s 5th birthday!

Kanlaya was born in the early hours of the morning on the 14th of June 2018, to mother Porntip and father Putra Mas. Porntip has had two calves born to the regional conservation breeding program. She came to Taronga Zoo Sydney in 2006 from a sanctuary in Thailand, before coming to Dubbo with her first calf, Pathi Harn, in 2015.

Originally from Malaysia, father Putra Mas moved to Perth Zoo in 1992 and has sired two calves. Kanlaya was conceived through artificial insemination.

Kanlaya is currently the youngest elephant in the Dubbo herd, and she’s busy learning natural social behaviours from the other elephants. She is Porntip and Putra Mas’ only female calf and, in the future, will be an integral part of the next generation of elephants to breed in the Australasian region.

Kanlaya is very special to the Elephant Keeping team, as she is the first female elephant calf born at the Zoo. She can be quite wary of new keepers to start with, and it takes time to build a relationship with her.

She is curious but wary, so it can take time for her to learn new behaviours using positive enforcement-based training. Kanlaya enjoys her food, which is key to this training, and it has been interesting to watch and learn as her favourite foods have changed over the years.

Kanlaya comes to life when she is around the bull elephants. Keepers refer to her as a shadow when she is with the bulls, as she will follow them around all day when spending time together in the paddock.

Kanlaya showed some new traits with the introduction of female Anjalee to the herd in 2022. Kanlaya was the first of the females to approach Anjalee and showed lots of initiative and curiosity towards her. It is great to see how confident she has become.

In these critical years of development for Kanlaya, her Keepers are focussed on her welfare and providing her with lots of social opportunities.
“It has been a career highlight to be a part of Kanlaya’s journey since the beginning,” Keeper Savannah said.

“It takes a lot of patience working with calves and to build your relationship with them, but it is so rewarding when you reach certain milestones in their training and conditioning.”

A great way to find out more about the Asian Elephants here at the Zoo and the plight of this endangered species in the wild is to head along to the daily Keeper Talk at 12pm. Buy tickets to Taronga Western Plains Zoo today to visit Kanlaya: https://taronga.org.au/dubbo-zoo