Skip to content
Main Navigation
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Japan

Upali.ch

Elephant encyclopedia

Main Navigation
  • Elephant encyclopedia
  • Author and Designer of the Elephant encyclopedia

Bottle fed elephantbaby – Upali

By Georges Frei  On 11. October 20165. March 2019 In Allgemein, Keeping Tagged Arrivals, attack, Bettina Aeschbach, Bottle fed baby, bull calf, calf milk, Ceyla, Chester, Cow's milk, diarrhoea, direct contact, Druk, Dublin, elephant keepers, elephantbaby, Frei, Georges, Georges Frei, Herpes, hierarchical, hook, Komali, milk, milk mixtures, Mother's milk, Ruedi Tanner, Switzerland, Upali, weaving, wounds, zoo, zooelephant, Zurich Leave a comment 
Who is Upali?

Upali was born after a gestation of 662 days, on November 14, 1994 at 3.15 a.m. After Komali and Panang, Upali was Ceyla’s 3rd birth.
2 Weeks later, Upali withdrew, became more and more autistic and sucked his trunk.
The sucking became so strong that he got an abscess at his trunk. Upali lost more and more weight and just dozed. He had not even enough strength to lay down for sleeping.

Why did Upali not want to drink any mother’s milk?

It was conspicuous how he greedily began to drink water himself, when his mother was watered. But he less and less tried to drink mother’s milk from Ceyla. Ceyla had the peculiarity to disturb her babies when they were suckling. Every time Upali wanted to drink, she tormented him by her elbows. Instead of closing his eyes like his older sisters Komali and Panang and to go on drinking, he gave up and stopped suckling at Ceyla’s breasts.

Certainly his two younger brothers Xian and Aishu did also suffer from this harassment, but they could somehow get their way with Ceyla and got enough mother’s milk to drink.

Ceyla - Komali - Upali - Druk
Ceyla – Komali – Upali – Druk

The picture shows the little skinny Upali between his big sister Komali and his aunt Druk. On the left side you see his mother Ceyla.

How could Upali be saved?

Directed by Ruedi Tanner, we decided on December 24, 1994 to nurse Upali by a milk bottle. Ruedi Tanner did already rear Upali’s mother Ceyla by a milk bottle.

Ceyla and Ruedi Tanner
Ceyla and Ruedi Tanner

But the mixtures of tea, rice slime and cream did not seem to be successful with Upali. Often the effect was strong diarrhoea. We tried various milk mixtures.

Which milk was the right milk then?
Upali and Betina
Upali and Betina

Only the idea to try it with calf feeding milk was really successful.
After Upali had got used to this milk, he began to drink joyfully and his weight grew slowly but steadily.
We had a beaker of 2 litres, which Upali emptied within no time. During daytime Upali drank one beaker every two hours.
It was our first and our last work in the morning and in the evening, to fill Upali thoroughly, because he didn’t get milk from us in the night.
So Upali drank about 15 litres of milk per day.

Upali as godchild of football club GC in Zurich

Did Upali stay with his mother?

However Upali stayed the whole time with his mother and with the elephant group. Because he should remain a normal elephant calf and he should not be imprinted by us keepers. This was very important for his good social development because we wanted him to grow into the elephant hierarchy without problems and to develop into a social bull later on.

Why did Upali have to leave the zoo?

Between the Zurich zoo and the former owner of the bull Maxie, Roger Cowly, there was an agreement that the first bull calf should belong to Roger Cowly.
To our regret Roger Cowly did not forget this agreement. Upali had hardly become one year, when he came up and insisted on fulfilment of the contract. As long as we could we tried to delay it by various arguments.

Was Upali well-received in England?

Then, on May 14, 1997, at the age of two and a half years, the time had come. The journey to England began for Upali – because Roger Cowly sold Upali to the Chester zoo.
Afterwards this turned out to be a piece of luck, because it is not easy to find a place in a good zoo for an elephant bull. The elephant keepers, the zoo and the people in Chester were very pleased to get the little elephant from Zurich.

Upali in Chester Zoo
Upali in Chester Zoo
Has Upali got used to living in Chester?

Upali has become completely integrated into the new elephant group of Chester and a new breeding program with him is going to be set up:
On the 12 November 2006 is born the elephant baby Sundura as the first calf for mum Sithami and dad Upali at the Chester zoo.
On 18.7. 2010 Nayan is born, the second calf for Sithami, 13, who is also mum to Sundara, six. Proud dad is Upali again.
On Saturday 22nd January 2011: Jamilah is daughter to proud mother Thi and father Upali.

Upali’s next stay was at Dublin Zoo
Upali in Dublin 2016
Upali in Dublin

On Monday 9th July, Dublin Zoo welcomed one of the most highly anticipated arrivals in many years – Upali an Asian bull elephant. Upali arrived from Chester Zoo at midnight on Thursday July 5th.

Meanwhile Upali is 3 meters high and weighs about 6,000 kg. And is now father of a total of 10 young elephants.
Unfortunately, 5 of his children at the Chester Zoo probably died on a herpes infection.

– Sundara, Chester Zoo 2004
– Raman, Chester Zoo 2006 – 2009 Herpes?
– Nayan, Chester Zoo 2010 – 2013 Herpes?
– Jamilah,Chester Zoo 2011 – 2013 Herpes?
– Hari Hi Way , Chester Zoo  2012 – 2015 Herpes?
– Bala Hi Way, Chester Zoo 2013 – 2015 Herpes?
– Kavi, Zoo Dublin 2014
– Ashoka, Zoo Dublin 2014
– Samiya, Zoo Dublin 2014
– Zinda, Zoo Dublin 2016

upali-dublin-movie
Upali in the Dublin Zoo
Where Upali lives today?

On 27 February 2019 Upali was transferred to the zoo of le Pal in France.
Watch the video: Upali has arrived at the Pal-Allier Zoo

Upali in the new stable
Upali in the new stable Pal-Allier Zoo
  • facebook
  • tweet
  • google+

Related Posts

  • Wanted: Translator English – French
  • Elephants of the zoo Zurich
  • Elephants in the Zoo Basel

Post navigation

The birth of an elephant
Elephantbulls and bulls managements

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Comments

  • Haley Rader on Anatomy of the elephants
  • Georges Frei on Musth of the elephant bulls
  • Emily Gray on Musth of the elephant bulls
  • How Much Does a Baby Elephant Weigh? – Exploration Squared on Bigness and weight of the elephants
  • Heather Parsons on Anatomy of the elephants

Recent Posts

  • Wanted: Translator English – French
    April 19, 2019, No Comment

    Wanted: Translator English – French Dear readers of upali.ch It …

  • Elephants of the zoo Zurich
    June 6, 2017, No Comment

    0.1 Ceyla Born 1971 in Sri Lanka Gender: female Since 1976 …

  • Elephants in the Zoo Basel
    June 6, 2017, No Comment

    Born: 1976 in Krüger National Park in South Africa Gender: female Since 1984 …

  • The Elephants of Circus KNIE Switzerland
    June 6, 2017, One Comment

    0.1 Sabu Born: 1984 in Burma Gender: female 01.01.1984 to 01.01.1989 – …

  • Daily Routine for the elephants in zoos and circus
    December 5, 2016, No Comment

    What does a day in the life of a zoo …

Copyright Georges Frei
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Japan