Posted August 11, 2023 in News
World Elephant Day 2023
World Elephant Day helps to raise awareness for this incredible species and highlights the many threats these animals are facing out in the wild.
African Elephants are the largest land animal on Earth with their herds wandering through 37 African countries. They are easily recognised by their trunk, which is used for communication and handling different objects. Their large ears allow them to radiate excess heat, helping to cool down in the hot climate. The African Elephant’s brain is bigger than that of any other animal, with the skull making up 25% of its body weight.
The African Elephant is currently classed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with approximately 415,000 left in the wild. Colchester Zoo’s charity, Action for the Wild, supports the Elephant Orphanage Project in Zambia, with its mission to rescue, rehabilitate and release orphaned Elephants into protected reserves. The Elephants they look after, have often become orphans due to the illegal ivory trade. Since 2010, Action for the Wild has donated £68,678 to the Elephant Orphanage Project and in 2023, will be making an additional contribution of £10,000.
Here at Colchester Zoo, we have 4 African Elephants; one male and three females. All of our Elephants can be viewed in their large outdoor paddock area, which has a pool area and a waterfall, which they often enjoy in the warmer months.
Tanya
Born approx. November 1981 – November 1982
Tanya is the matriarch of the group and leader of the herd. She likes to keep everyone in line and often bosses the other Elephants around. Not only does she keep the other Elephants in check, but she also likes to make sure that the Animal Care Team are also working hard and attending to her needs. Tanya is very intelligent and has an excellent memory meaning that she picks up new training exercises quickly. Tanya can be found in our cow paddock along with Opal.
Opal
Born approx. 1986 – 1987
Opal is a very sweet natured Elephant who is very calm, gentle and loving towards the rest of the herd and the Animal Care Team. She is quite slow-paced and likes to take her time with enrichment activities. She loves investigating new objects but it can take her some time to learn new skills as she sometimes gets confused. However, once she has learned a new training exercise, she is fantastic at it! Opal can be found in our cow paddock along with Tanya.
Tembo
Born approx. 1981 – 1985
Tembo is the only bull Elephant here at Colchester Zoo. He is super sweet and such a gentleman to the other Elephants and the Animal Care Team. Tembo really enjoys his keeper interactions and loves taking part in different training exercises. Weighing around 5.5 tonnes, Tembo is our largest Elephant here at the Zoo. Tembo can be found in our bull paddock along with one of our females, Zola.
Zola
Born approx. June 1981 – June 1983
Zola is the smallest Elephant here at Colchester Zoo, weighing around 4 tonnes. She is easy to tell apart from the others in the group, as she has very short tusks. Due to her small size, Zola can be very shy but loves taking part in her training exercises with the Animal Care Team. She is very intelligent so often picks up new skills quickly. Zola has a very special relationship with our male Tembo, and they can often be seen sharing their meals with each other in the bull paddock.
You can see our herd of African Elephants at Elephant Kingdom on your next visit!
