Elephants at Houston zoo take daily yoga classes, do handstands to stay healthy

These guys are going to need some really big mats.

Elephants at the Houston Zoo have been keeping limber by taking up one of the latest human crazes — yoga.

Each day, all of the zoo’s 12 pachyderms do “elephant yoga” sessions as part of their routine health checks.

One, named Tess, is even able to prop her massive body up on her front legs and do a number of other stretches as part of a daily regimen with zookeepers.

The 40-year-old, 6,500-pound member of the zoo’s herd, is among its most flexible elephants — and the only one who can do a handstand, Kristen Windle, the Houston Zoo’s elephant manager, told The Houston Chronicle. 

Each session lasts between about 30 seconds and five minutes. Some older elephants do two sessions a day to keep their joints loose.

 “We’ll get a good look at their skin, we’ll check their feet, we’ll check their mouth,” Windle told the paper. “But we’re also looking at their range of motion and how they’re moving so we can know exactly what they’re feeling by these training sets.” 

As soon as the elephants are born, the training starts. First, trainers make sure that each elephant knows their names and gradually make them comfortable with trainers placing their hands on them.

The yoga sessions are voluntary, although each elephant is rewarded with a treat for participating, like fruit or bread, Windle said.

“If they don’t want to get involved or if they don’t want to keep working with it, they can just walk away,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do to stop that but they know they’re not getting the bread or the produce.” 

As part of their exercises, the elephants will lift their front and back feet, balance on two feet and stretch out while laying on the ground. Most of the exercises mimic movements they would make in the wild.

“It’s not going to be as posed, but they’re constantly climbing, laying down, standing up, throwing stuff on their backs,” Windle said. “The things that we’re doing are part of natural movements that they do.”

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums requires exercise regimens for all zoos with elephants, but each is different, according to The Chronicle.

Each elephant at the Houston Zoo has their own personalized routine.

Teddy, a 2-year-old elephant, is currently learning to identify different parts of his body as trainers poke him all over with a tennis ball attached to a stick to learn different movements.

Once elephants complete this early training, they will follow verbal commands from the keepers.

The zoo’s oldest elephant, 54-year-old Methai, has arthritis and moves much more slowly than other elephants.

The exercise also provides important mental stimulation for the gentle giants, who are known for their incredible intelligence.

“We want them to constantly be learning new things,” Windle told the paper. “We don’t want to get stagnant. They are really smart and they want to be constantly working and learning.”