Page 12 - Ratel 2023 Summer

Ratel volume 50, issue number 2

elephants’ bodies - including feet, ears and tails. This area includes Outdoor Habitat
a chute and a set of weighing scales. The latter allows keepers to
track the elephants weight everyday. Each training area includes The outdoor portion of Elephant Eden is also split into different
overhead, temperature-controlled showers which are installed to habitable areas that have different substrates and features to inter-
promote economical resource management. The showers are not act with. Just as on the inside, four of the outdoor areas include
used to necessarily ‘wash’ the elephants, however their use does deep sand flooring which is regularly rotavated, as well as three
kick start a behaviour chain. For example, once an elephant is wet, large grass paddocks that allow for grazing. These three fields are
it will cover itself in sand (known as sand-bathing/dust-bathing), regularly rotated to allow for regrowth and all seven provide oppor-
then mud. And as that mud dries on its skin, it will start to scratch tunities to dustbathe, scratch, explore and the opportunity for the
its body on boulders, logs and other structures within the enclo- animals to modify the environment themselves - such as digging
sure, to remove any dead skin. their own mud wallows. There are five manual hoists outside that
are also regularly rotated to ensure unpredictability in the delivery
The elephants at Noah’s Ark receive around-the-clock care; the of food or enrichment items to encourage trunk, neck and back
barn is fitted with multiple self-filling water troughs, accessible in muscle exercise and to avoid competition or aggression. On a
each pen, as well as five automatic, motorised hoists that are set to randomised basis, three hoists could be used one day out of the five
be lowered at unpredictable intervals. Two of the five hoists hold a and then the next day all five could be used. Each hoist can also
large hay net that is accessible at all times, whilst the other three contain two large hay barrels. Two of these hoists are located
each hold an enrichment item designed to be cognitively challeng- underneath a large shelter which was built in 2022, providing the
ing to ensure that food retrieval is time-consuming. These are filled elephants with shelter from any inclement weather. Food is provid-
with some of the elephants favourite ‘treats,’ such as root vegeta- ed on the floor to forage for, providing psychological stimulation
bles (carrots, sweet potatoes, swede, etc), apples, peanuts, browse, and encouraging full enclosure usage.
or specially-made high fibre pellets.
In the front field a large, lined mud wallow has been provided that
24-hour access to the entire Elephant Eden facility is given to the contains water for protracted periods. Mud wallows are essential in
resident elephants. One of the goals of the programme is to match providing a protective layer for the elephants’ skin which acts as a
the elephants’ natural feeding activity as much as possible. There- coolant and moisturiser - as well as protecting them from the sun.
fore, browse and grass account for the majority of their diet. Using their feet and tusks, the elephants at Noah’s Ark have since
Browse is provided each morning outside for them all to share, and created their own wallows in the bull field, which has been encour-
then they each receive a large pile to themselves in the evening aged and these wallows are their preferred. The front field also has
indoors. The browse is felled from on-site plantations or collected two culverts, which allow keepers to put different items inside that
from local farmers and landowners. A 15 square metre trailer is the elephants have to manipulate to retrieve a food item. There are
filled with browse of many species twice a week and delivered to also several mulch piles around the habitat, allowing keepers to hide
the elephant barn. food within. The elephants then have to dig through the pile to find

Figure 2. Shaka is the oldest and most
dominant elephant at Noah’s Ark

Figure 3. Elephants Shaka
and Janu interacting.

Figure 4. The youngest elephant at Noah’s Ark is Sutton
who arrived in 2023 from West Midlands Safari Park.

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