It's Elephant Bedtime

Have you ever wondered how elephants sleep? We have unveiled night-time footage capturing our elephants settling in for a peaceful night's rest.

The footage gives insight into the sleeping habits of 18-year-old Janu and 9-year-old Sutton. The video shows Janu on his side, and Sutton, the younger elephant, getting up and trying to get Janu to play, as well as make room for him to lie as close as possible. This playful and endearing interaction was a treat for us here at Noah’s Ark to see, while helping us to develop our understanding of the behaviour of their elephants.

Tom Lindley, our Elephant Section Leader, sheds light on their elephant sleep habits, stating, "Elephants sleep for around 4-6 hours a night on average, but they won't sleep for a whole night in one go like humans do. They tend to sleep for between 1-2 hours in one stint, then get up and move around a little, before going down for their next bout of sleep which is almost always on their opposite side. This is because elephants are such large and heavy animals that if they spend too long lying on one side, it can cause pressure build up on their internal organs."

Tom further explains Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm’s innovative approach to elephant comfort, "Here at the zoo, we've incorporated deep sand mounds as sleeping platforms for our elephants. This not only alleviates pressure on all four feet but also facilitates their movement, allowing them to rise effortlessly when they want to, unlike flat surfaces."

Highlighting the zoo's commitment to animal welfare, Tom emphasises, "Our elephants always have nocturnal access to the outdoors, never confined within the barn. Each elephant can freely roam the sand and grass paddocks at their leisure."

Elephant Eden has four African bull elephants - it recently welcomed our latest, 13-year-old Uli. from Magdeburg, Germany. Uli has joined 32-year-old Shaka, 18-year-old Janu, and 9-year-old Sutton.

The 20-acre facility, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday, plays a key role for the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for African elephants, offering an extensive environment for individual males to live and integrate into a multi-generational group where they can learn from each other and exhibit natural behaviours. Habitats like Elephant Eden are crucial to the successful and healthy management of African elephants as a part of the wider European zoo community, in recognition of the differing social and spatial needs of male and females.

You can see all four of our male elephants at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm’s Elephant Eden habitat, and at the daily educational keeper talk at 1:30pm.