NEW YORK CITYThe monorail glides past outdoor exhibits displaying a red panda named Linus, a Malayan tiger named Suhana, and Penny the rhino (wearing sunscreen for her sensitive skin, our tour guide points out). Then we come to Happy, a 50-year-old Asian elephant.

As we watch her on this sunny spring day at the Bronx Zoo, in New York City, the chirpy guide cracks jokes and rattles off facts: Happy drinks up to 60 gallons of water every day, she enjoys digging in the sand, she gets frequent pedicures from zoo staff. The elephant lumbers over to the fence, swings her trunk, and lifts her massive right foot. “She came over to say hello!” a fellow zoogoer says to his daughter.



Happy doesn’t know