Little boys are often very similar. Lawn around, play with excavators and only want to cuddle every now and then. Otto from Hellabrunn does not differ from the boys from Harlaching or Schwabing. And this Otto, who will be one year old this Thursday and, unlike the city dwellers of the same age, weighs not just a few, but a few hundred kilograms, is now celebrating his first birthday. The little Asian elephant does this no differently than any other day in the past weeks and months.
He heaves, rams and rolls an excavator tire around, runs around between the legs of the grown-ups with a bobbing trunk and lets his father Gajendra cuddle him every now and then. But only briefly, before Otto starts running again and Papa tries to hold his tail with his trunk, but then gives in to the son’s urge to explore.
A year ago, the zoo celebrated these offspring, which are important from a marketing point of view. Of course, house mice, Mhorr gazelles or the newly added two young maned wolves are also cute as newborns and accordingly an incentive for visitors. But polar bears, panda bears and elephants are in the category with the greatest pull. So it’s not surprising that Hellabrunn is now using this occasion to advertise with one of its leading actors.
At the elephant house you can have yourself photographed with an Otto poster, and there will also be a video of Otto’s first year. Otto won’t notice much of that himself. More like the gift basket that was served to him for his birthday. Exceptionally, it contains a lot of grapes and pretzels. Not only in terms of playful, but also in terms of culinary preferences, there are evidently cross-young people in Munich.