Female elephants shun aging male at Pittsburgh zoo

A 10-year-old male elephant at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is moving to Alabama because of peer pressure of sorts.

The female herd has begun to exclude Callee, which is a phenomenon that occurs naturally as male elephants mature. On Friday, Callee will be taken off display to prepare for the move to the Birmingham Zoo where he'll live with other males at that zoo's new elephant yard and barn.

Willie Thieson, the Pittsburgh Zoo's elephant manager, said he knew it was time for the move when even Callee's mother began to push him away. Shunned male elephants form their own group and will reunite with the females only when it is time to breed.

Callee's departure will leave the Pittsburgh Zoo with six elephants, plus three more at a rural conservation center in Somerset County.

CBS Station KDKA in Pittsburgh reports that while the zoo is sad to see Callee go, they also know it's for the best.

Dr. Barbara Baker, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, said in a press release: "This is a tough goodbye. Callee was only the second African elephant successfully born here at the Zoo.

Though you don't want to see him leave, you know it is for the better. You can compare it to sending your child off to college the first time, you know it is an important step, but it is still tough."

Callee isn't the first one to be shunned at the zoo. Last year, the Pittsburgh zoo nixed Ben Roethlisberger's likeness from the elephant display in the wake of the star athlete's dismissed sexual assault allegations. He was replaced with a picture of hockey hall of famer and former Penguins star Mario Lemieux.