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East County News Service
May 11, 2025 (Escondido) -- Elephants at the the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park in Escondido found a cool way to beat the heat during this week's heat wave--holidng their own pool party.
In this video, you'll see the herd's matriarch, Swazi, playing in the water with the youngsters. When one elephant goes in, the others quickly join, which is often initiated by the younger elephants. Teens Khosi and Kami started this "pool party" that lasted about 35 minutes. Play is a great way for the herd to bond.
Elephants are buoyant and you can see them dive under water and pop back up. They use their trunks as a snorkel and hold their breath under water. Elephants like to climb on each other in the water and playfully trumpet. Sometimes they are under water when they do this, and the trumpet sound is muffled. When young calves are swimming, you will often see allomothers (a "nanny" role typically taken on by elephants that don't yet have offspring of their own) breaking up any play between the calves that gets too rough.
After a good swim, elephants immediately take a dust bath. This is an important part of self-maintenance and good skin care.
To visit the Safari Park or learn more, check out their website at https://sdzsafaripark.org/ .
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