The six elephants have now been at the Henry Doorly Zoo for one year.
Zookeepers say they have advanced further than they ever imagined in just 12 months.
"We've built solid relationships with them, their learning behaviors, it's really a wonderful thing to see."
The elephants didn't come here behaving this calmly.
"Prior to arriving they had not been under human care."
The elephants came from Swaziland, Africa on a plane with 11 other elephants, making stops in Wichita and Dallas.
The crates containing the elephants were carefully unloaded from the plane and placed onto trucks, which carried them to the zoo.
Cranes then lifted the crates into the elephants' new home.
"All this stuff we started from ground zero when they first arrived, and came out of crates into the barns, they would charge us when we approached them."
After consistent training and earning the trust of zookeeper’s, Elephant Manager Sarah Armstrong says they've shown major progression.
"One week of not having any formal contact they were voluntarily standing for us with reinforcement."
They were brought to the US because of a drought in Swaziland threatened their lives.
Zookeepers say it was best they came here to be looked after.
"We can do front foot care on all of our elephants, we can do voluntarily blood draws on four out of the six, the other two are really close to doing it."
Originally an animal rights group fought to keep them from leaving Africa but zookeepers say this move was best.
"We are incredibly proud of where those animals are, and where they came from, I think they are advanced further than we anticipated them to."
