Auckland Zoo elephants out for the first time

Anjalee and Burma head out together for the first time at Auckland Zoo. Photo: Auckland Zoo/Facebook

Auckland Zoo's veteran female elephant Burma has welcomed her new companion Anjalee with "early signs of intimacy", much to the delight of her keepers.

Under blue skies, the pair of female Asian elephants ventured out into the elephant paddock this morning for the first time, spending several hours getting to know each other.

Director of Auckland Zoo Jonathan Wilcken said the meeting was "absolutely fabulous".

"Burma was the most animated and excited and interested [as] I've seen her in a long time, and she's been very happy for the last number of years. But this is just filling her life now, it's great."

The outdoor introduction happened much sooner than zoo staff expected, he said, and was met with "smiles everywhere" from those visitors lucky enough to see it.

"Burma hasn't seen another elephant for over five years now, and we thought they would take it all pretty slowly and she would take her time to get used to a new companion.

"But this has been very quick and there's signs of a lot of lovely nice protective behaviour and early signs of intimacy. So that's very nice to see."

Keepers had been slowly introducing Anjalee and Burma in the barn - first with visual contact, then physical contact.

Anjalee arrived at Auckland Zoo on Sunday after travelling from Sri Lanka to New Zealand, via Niue for a 3-month quarantine period.

The 1.7 tonne 8-year-old elephant is here to keep 32-year-old Burma company, and Mr Wilcken said early signs of this was "so exciting".

"Anjalee is exploring her new environment, just as much as Burma is exploring her new relationship and new companionship...this is as good as we could possibly have hoped for, it's fabulous, they're very happy."

He said this was the most important social bond for Asian elephants.

"The core of Asian elephants' social unit is the female herd, the matriarchal herd."

Mr Wilcken said the two elephants would probably be spending a lot of time together from now on - welcome company for Burma who has been lonely since her friend Kashin died in 2009.