The Zoo's elephant family is active rain or shine! Rain just rolls off their backs, and the thunderstorms a week ago seemed to make them even more playful and active.

A research study into the behaviour of the elephant family proved that they are naturally active, with one of them walking up to 15km a day.

Lots of that exercise is just part of elephant play and the interactions happening between group members, and that includes walking, running, rolling in their mud wallows, and swimming in their pools.

Zoo visitors also get to see the elephants enjoying structured exercise routines with their keepers.

The keepers walk, jog, and run with the elephants for exercise sessions that last for up to 40 minutes - and that happens at least twice a day! So the elephant keepers have to be very fit themselves!

Keepers are really revving up the exercise program for the elephant family during the Premier's Active Family Challenge to set an even better example for other Victorian families.

Elephant Keeper Tully Johns says the elephants were already active, but that now two of the elephants are pregnant it's even more important to keep them very active. He is glad to report that Dokkoon and Kulab are still enjoying their exercise as much as ever!

Dokkoon is due to give birth in December, or possibly in January 2010. Kulab isn't due until August or September 2010. So far, their pregnancies aren't really noticeable.

Both pregnant elephants have retained excellent appetites, so exercise is even more important than before to keep them from gaining excessive weight during their 22-month pregnancies.

Tully explains that an additional training session has been added to the morning program: ‘We ask the four females to ‘tail up', with each elephant holding the tail of the elephant in front in her trunk. Then they follow us in a line - we lead them on a walk for anywhere up to 40 minutes. During that time, we have short sessions of jogging and running.'

Tully says that after those extended exercise periods, the elephants often decide to relax by taking a good drink, heading for a mud wallow, or going for a swim.

Because the elephants always have access to one of the pools, they can go swimming whenever they feel like it. They swim so often that the keepers don't need to include swimming sessions as part of the formal exercise plan.

The two pregnant elephants have two daily additional exercise sessions that focus on stretching to keep them super-fit while they are carrying their calves and in preparation for the births. It's all aimed on keeping them flexible and strong, and sometimes it includes getting them to move a large log around.

Tully says ‘we ask them to do leg lifts, lie down and get up, and climb over rocks and logs, and we include other movements to maintain their strength and flexibility.

In addition to their ‘personal trainer' solo sessions, Dokkoon and Kulab are also part of the training times with the other two females in the family group.

Tully says that ‘Some afternoons we take all four girls walking, all tailed up, but other days we will exercise them in pairs: Dokkoon with the herd matriarch Mek Kapah, and Kulab with the youngest female, Num-Oi.

‘At the end of the day, we give them another exercise session that includes walking up and over the hilly parts of the paddocks, around the trees, and along different pathways each time.'

Even when the official period of the Premier's Active Family Challenge comes to an end, the elephants at Melbourne Zoo will still be enjoying lots of activity to keep them healthy and energetic.