Beijing: Undeterred by the scorching heat, an eager crowd outside the guardrail encircling the leafy elephant enclosure cranes their necks, hoping to snap photos at the Zhengzhou Zoo in China's Henan province. The lone occupant is a 40-year-old male Asian elephant, Babu.

Weighing four tonnes, Babu is about to eat brunch. Unlike other elephants who are able to put food in their mouth by merely wielding their trunk, Babu has to begin by bending both its forelegs slightly forward, placing food between its bizarrely short trunk and right foreleg, and then slowly lifting the food up high by gently curling its trunk before putting the food into his mouth, reports Xinhua news agency.