Early Life
Ruby was born in Thailand, probably in the summer of 1973, and was shipped to the Phoenix Zoo in February 1974 when she was about seven months old. Initially, she lived with a goat and some chickens for a few years without any elephant companionship. Her painting career began when her keepers saw her scratching in the dirt of her enclosure with a stick, and offered her a brush and paints.
In time, she was moved into the main enclosure with the zoo's two other elephants, both African. African and Asian Elephants are of different species, and Ruby did not get along with the other two. Zoo officials decided to breed her, to provide her with companionship.
Read more about this topic: Ruby (elephant)
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“In early days, I tried not to give librarians any trouble, which was where I made my primary mistake. Librarians like to be given trouble; they exist for it, they are geared to it. For the location of a mislaid volume, an uncatalogued item, your good librarian has a ferret’s nose. Give her a scent and she jumps the leash, her eye bright with battle.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live...”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 30:19.