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Elephants get trunks on for new mud bath

23 July 2010

The elephant house at Belfast Zoo is quickly becoming a beauty parlour for Northern Ireland’s largest clients! A mud bath made with 40 tonnes of clay has been added to the elephants’ enclosure, as one of many ways to pamper the four ladies.

The new mud bath is one of many ways that Belfast Zoo has adapted to ensure the best possible care is given to the elephants Jenny, Yhetto, Dhunja and Tina. The elephants already receive regular pedicures and their skin is often moisturised. Classical music is also a regular occurrence in the elephant house, as a recent study by Queens University found this genre of music to be relaxing for the elephants.

Belfast Zoo curator Alyn Cairns is delighted with the elephants’ responses to the mud bath. “Our four elephants absolutely love the new addition to their enclosure. On hot days they often lie and play in it to cool themselves down. Yhetto especially loves throwing the mud around! We recently added 100 tonnes of sand to their enclosure too, to make it easier and more comfortable for them to sleep.”

The IUCN believes that the Asian elephant faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild, and there are only around 350 in zoos around the world. Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants, and are the rarer of the two species.

We are looking forward to seeing your reactions to these very special elephants in their new mud bath.

You can help support the care of Belfast Zoo’s Asian elephants by adopting an elephant.

Find out more about animal adoption

You can see more photos of our elephants enjoying their mud bath by going to www.facebook.com/belfastzoo.

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