oddly enough

oddly enough

Portland elephants like golf-course sand

PORTLAND, Ore.

Not all sand is created equal. Just ask Lily, the Oregon Zoo’s youngest elephant.

On a recent morning, the 1-year-old Asian elephant, all 1,400 pounds of her, dug her feet into the smooth grit as she poked around in the rain for tree limbs, bamboo and other food.

Children, even pachyderms, love a sandbox. And this one, a just-completed chunk of the new $57 million Elephant Lands exhibit, is elephant-sized.

The special sand that covers the new outdoor Encounter Habitat, on the south end of what will be Elephant Lands, was found after a year of testing to find the right mix of cushion and porosity.

The deciding factor came from the elephant pack, said Bob Lee, the zoo’s elephant curator. The elephants were given chances to try different sands before the zoo picked what project engineer Wayne Starkey dubbed their “Goldilocks,” the kind that was just right.

And where did the just-right sand come from? It was dredged from the Columbia River by CalPortland’s aggregate plant in Vancouver.

The sediment in the elephant exhibit — which will use 15,000 cubic yards of sand at 4 feet deep — is the same kind used on golf courses, known as USGA topdressing. It’s not as coarse as other sands and drains exceptionally well.

Starkey visited the Vancouver sand facility in the fall and took a look at available varieties. He found that finer masonry sand held more water than was acceptable. A rougher sand drained well, but when it was tested with the elephants, it didn’t seem to draw them in the way the USGA topdressing did. During a trial period, he said, a mound of the USGA topdressing got more attention from the elephants; Lily and her big brother, Samudra, even used it to play king of the hill.

Police investigate possible selfie on stolen iPad

LOVELAND, Colo.

Police are investigating whether a man who apparently snapped a selfie with an iPad reported as stolen from a Colorado gymnastics studio played a role in its disappearance.

A picture of the dark-haired, bearded man with a cigarette clamped in his mouth appeared in Premier Gymnastics’ iCloud account, its collection of data stored on remote servers and available online.

After police in Loveland released the photo and asked the public for help finding him, Lt. Rick Arnold said Monday that investigators have identified him. Police say they aren’t releasing his name because it’s unclear whether he has any connection with the March 1 burglary.

In California, a selfie found on a phone at a church that had been burglarized last month helped lead police to a suspect.

Associated Press