KEY POINTS:
Auckland Zoo elephants team leader Andrew Coers has fun with birthday girl Kashin as they celebrate her 40th birthday by spraying keeper Linda Gardiner during a rare swim in the hippo pool, observed by a large crowd who turned up to join in the festivities.
Many women shy away from turning 40, but Kashin partied with about 3000 people to celebrate the milestone.
An Auckland Zoo resident since 1972, Kashin spent her birthday playing with her keepers and fellow elephant Burma, who recently turned 26, in the Hippo River while the audience watched.
"You could tell they really enjoyed it," zoo spokeswoman Jane Healy said. "I think they knew they were being made a fuss of but they just do their own thing, they enjoy being with the keepers."
Kashin and Burma - two of only three elephants in New Zealand - also wowed the crowd by painting pictures with their trunks.
The paintings were auctioned off by the "Bug Man", Ruud Kleinpaste - with Kashin's reaching $1010, paid by an Auckland woman.
"Because elephants are so intelligent, we try to keep them stimulated by doing all these activities," said Ms Healy.
The money will be donated to a wildlife protection unit in Sumatra's Bukit Tigapuluh National Park. ASB also donated $1000 for the cause.
Kashin came to the zoo as a 4-year-old from a Thailand wildlife facility. The three-tonne, 3.2m-tall mammal eats about 120kg of food a day. She and Burma also enjoyed a special birthday fruit-topped sponge cake yesterday.
