The pachyderms were the first creatures in temperate San Diego to see snow this decade. The keepers at the San Diego zoo started off the holiday zoo experiences, but creating and blowing snow into the elephant’s exhibit.

The Zoo used 160 500-pound blocks of ice to create the huge piles of snow for the elephants in two separate yards, one by the elephant pool and another on the other side of the elephant yard. The full process took more than two hours from start to finish, but the end result was worth it.

When the elephants were let into the yard, the giant creatures rushed right over to the snow to play, investigate and enjoy the treats the handlers had left inside the fluffy masses of ice. The hills of snow were drizzled with extracts of coconut and bananas, encouraging the elephants to dig down into the masses of snow where yams, carrots and celery waited to be eaten.

The elephants had a wonderful time with the miraculous snowfall in sixty degree weather. They flapped their ears with excitement and ran their trunks over the piles of snow looking for the vegetables hidden inside. Sumithi, a 42-year-old female Asian elephant, flipped a snowball at Tembo, a 38-year-old female African elephant. Devi, a 31-year-old female Asian elephant, blew the snow into the air like confetti.

The snow event was a holiday treat gone very right as the San Diego Jungle Bells program opens for the 2009 holiday season.

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