They say an elephant never forgets; and a famous Dublin Zoo bull elephant instantly recognised a keeper in France – more than four years after they last met. ‘His eyes opened wide, his ears came forward and he put his trunk up towards me,’ said Gerry Creighton, former elephant keeper and operations manager at Dublin Zoo. Over four years after their last meeting, Upali, a five-tonne bull elephant immediately recognised the Dubliner and elephant authority, who became a household name in Ireland from his appearances on the RTÉ series The Zoo.
According to Mr Creighton – author of Raised By The Zoo: My Life with Elephants and other Animals – Upali was sucking in air around him with his trunk because he recognised his smell. Since their last meeting, the 54-year-old has become an elephant consultant to zoos and safari parks around the world. Upali had travelled to Dompierre Le Pal Zoo in France in 2019 to help breed the endangered species.
In the wild, bull elephants move between different herds so the move mimicked natural behaviour. But when the bull got out of sorts at the start of this summer, the French keepers called Mr Creighton, who championed positive reinforcement training. Mr Creighton said: ‘They said, “he’s in must, he’s a little bit moody and he won’t really let us wash his feet.
” Must is a condition where they have heightened testosterone levels.’ When Mr Creighton walked into the enclosure, he said it was like the reunion of ‘two old fri.
