African Elephants Move to Mexico

Nine African baby elephants were taken from their home in Namibia to a wild game park in Latin America. The elephants, ranging in age from 4 to 10 years old, traveled across the ocean in a cargo plane before arriving in Puebla, Mexico.

They spent 24 hours in tight quarters as they flew over the Atlantic in a chartered jet. They had stopovers in Brazil and Chile. Then a two-hour truck drive to the city of Puebla before they arrived at their new home at Africam Safari, a 900-acre wildlife preserve whose name is a combination of Africa and the family name of the park's owner – Frank Carlos Camacho.

The oldest elephant, about 10, is the size of a minivan and had been nicknamed "Big Boy" – clearly the leader of the pack. The youngest, "Chico," or "Little Boy," is 4 years old. The pack included one other male and six females.

"It would have been much harder if they were adults," said Cecilia Geiger, a spokeswoman for Africam Safari. The elephants obediently boarded the plane on their own, with Big Boy leading the smaller ones up a ramp and into the cargo bay, where the elephants were put in big crates.

Camacho accompaniedthem, listening to the elephant chatter as they crossed the Atlantic.

"We could all feel that they had a special connection," he said.

During a reporter's visit Friday, the herd looked happy enough, playing outside in a huddle near a muddy watering pool, tossing sand with their skinny trunks, their white tusk buds barely visible. Eventually, those buds could grow into 8-foot long tusks. The elephants will grow two times their current size.

Filed under: Animal Pictures, Nature and Animals

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