TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The lead elephant in the 1980s film “Smokey and the Bandit 2” is among two new pachyderms at the Topeka Zoo.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the 58-year-old Asian elephant named Cora arrived Wednesday. She was joined by her longtime companion, Shannon, a 34-year-old African elephant.
Topeka Zoo director Brendan Wiley says the pair quickly took to exploring after being unloaded.
Currently, they reside in a special holding area where they’ll be quarantined for a few weeks and have their health evaluated. Within a few weeks, they will join the zoo’s two other elephants 46-year-old Tembo and 56-year-old Sunda.
The new elephants came from Elephant Encounter, a traveling elephant program based near Tampa, Florida. They’re crucial additions because new guidelines call for herds of at least three elephants.
