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Get to know the Asian elephants at the ABQ BioPark

Rozie snacks at the ABQ BioPark’s Asia exhibit. Rozie’s baby bump can be easily seen from this angle.

Albert wanders through his home at the ABQ BioPark’s Asia exhibit on Friday.

Alice walks through the enclosure at the ABQ BioPark’s Asia exhibit on Friday.

At 57 years in age, Irene is one of the oldest Asian elephants in North America.

Elizabeth Tucker Elizabeth Tucker Elizabeth Tucker Journal Staff Writer

Published March 18, 2024 - 1:21 p.m. Modified April 21, 2025 - 2:00 a.m.

The ABQ BioPark is home to four Asian elephants, and the city recently announced a fifth elephant is on its way as Rozie is due in December.

That being the case, what better time than now for a primer on the Albuquerque pachyderms.

The family group consists of Albert, 25, Rozie, 31, Alice, 50, and Irene, 57.

Alice is Rozie’s mother, and Albert is the potential father of Rozie’s baby.

“Rozie’s pregnancy may be the result of natural breeding or artificial insemination, both of which occurred in February 2023,” according to the BioPark. “Paternity will be determined through a DNA test after birth.”

At 57, Irene is one of the oldest elephants in North America right now, Amber Alink, curator of elephants and primates, said in an interview. She noted that the animals have a life expectancy of 45 to 55 years.

Rozie’s pregnancy does come with some trepidation after the BioPark previously lost two young elephants due to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, or EEHV.

Alink said the strain is 85% fatal to Asian elephant calves from 18 months to 8 years old.

“To prevent this, we proactively monitor our herd and make sure that we know which strains they have and that they will shed intermittently yet not be sick from,” Alink said. “So we know there are carriers … in our herd. And we test them by doing trunk washes on a weekly basis. … Then, when we have calves, not only would we be doing trunk washes with the calves, but we’d also be training them to participate in blood draws, where we can collect their blood and then test that for the virus if it’s present.”

Alink said the BioPark has started developing its own EEHV lab, making it much faster to detect a virus rather than sending the samples to the East Coast for testing, enabling the care team to act more quickly if an elephant is sick.

In addition to these precautions, the team’s prenatal care for Rozie includes a focus on getting her the right amount of protein and calories to support a growing baby without letting the mother gain too much weight.

“Rozie right now is getting a lot of really palatable hay. She gets to eat a lot of bark from trees. … And then, for her daily exercise needs to help keep her fit and flexible, we have developed something over the years that we kind of reference as elephant Pilates, or elephant yoga. … So Rosie is going to be fit when it comes time to go into labor.”

Alink has been working at the BioPark for almost 24 years and says the animals and caretakers build a close bond, but it takes time.

“Zookeepers spend the majority of their time working on building relationships with animals that they care for,” Alink said. “And those animals are very adept at knowing who their caretakers are, because they recognize us not only by sight but by smell and by sound.”

The animals understand time frames in a day, she said, and know what to expect through consistency.

“If you were to develop a cold or have a little cough or, you know, your voice changes, the elephants still know it’s you,” Alink said. “Pretty amazing, I think.”