The two 6-foot-long tables and two wheelbarrows were heaped with pounds of celery, grass, alfalfa and melons. It took the two diners just two minutes to scarf it all down.
The buffet was down by the Denver Zoo’s two Asian elephants — Mimi and Dolly — as part of the celebration of Thai National Elephant Day.
“This is just a snack for them,” Zoo Events Specialist Elaine Rowland said, as Mimi deftly plucked a melon from the pile of food and swallowed it in a gulp.
Perhaps not all that much food for an animal standing 20 feet tall and weighing 20,000 pounds.
The day-long celebration, the zoo’s second, was a cultural event and a part of the effort to stress protection of these endangered animals.
While more than 100,000 of the elephants roamed the grasslands of Southeast Asia only decades ago, hunting and habitat destruction at the hands of humans have whittled their numbers down.
Fewer than 30,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild today, according to zoo fact sheets. That’s about 20,000 fewer wild elephants than seats at Coors Field, a zoo official said.
The event drew inspiration from a traditional festival in Thailand, where the elephant is the national animal.
The zoo invited members of Denver’s Thai community to perform dancing and art for visitors. “We just wanted to bring in a cultural connection,” Rowland said.
Thai fruit carver Sonchai Nicrota demonstrated his skills for zoo patrons, turning cantaloupe and other fruits into sculptures of flowers and other intricate patterns.
Nicrota said he was invited to participate in the festivities and that the elephant was “very much” an important part of Thai culture.
The zoo also announced plans to bring Mimi and Dolly some company: several more elephants could become Denver Zoo residents as part of the zoo’s Asian Tropics expansion.
The 10-acre complex is slated to open in spring 2012 and could house up to 12 elephants.
Asian Tropics also will generate reusable energy by burning waste, including elephant droppings, in a process called bio mass gasification.
To help fund the project, visitors were encouraged to help Mimi and Dolly “pack their trunks” by putting spare change in “ele-banks,” Rowland said.
“We’re really excited about it,” Rowland said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
Kyle Glazier: 303-954-1638 or kglazier@denverpost.com
