The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : National Zoo Elephant Plays the Harmonica The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : National Zoo Elephant Plays the Harmonica

Friday, May 4, 2012

National Zoo Elephant Plays the Harmonica



In Washington, DC, a 36-year-old Asian elephant named Shanthi is developing her musical talents by playing harmonicas and other instruments within the reach of her trunk.

In a video released Wednesday by the Smithsonian's National Zoo http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ in Washington, Shanthi has a harmonica attached to her stall and plays tunes even when no humans are around.

Elephant keeper Debbie Flinkman says Shanthi is musically inclined, playing her own songs that always have a big crescendo at the end. Shanthi also likes to tap things, flap her ears against objects to make noise and rub her leg up and down shrubs to repeat noises.

Flinkman says she doesn't make Shanthi play the harmonica. It's something she enjoys.
Shanthi was a gift from Sri Lanka and is the mother of 10-year-old Kandula.




FOLLOW US!
/