Adopt an elephant

Adopting an elephant at Paignton Zoo is a great gift idea that will also help us to deliver our wildlife conservation programmes. By adopting an elephant, your money will make a real contribution to our vital conservation work for forest elephants in Nigeria and many other species.

At Paignton Zoo, we are home our beautiful African elephant, Duchess, who has been with us since 1977. The African elephant is classified as Vulnerable, with no more than 415,000 individuals in the wild.

Habitat

African elephants are found widely in sub-Saharan African savannah grassland and forest.

Wild Diet

Grass, tree foliage, bark, herbs, leaves, shoots, twigs, roots, fruit from many plants, as well as cultivated crops on occasion.

Behaviour

Elephants are social animals, living in herds of breeding groups made up of females and young. Males which live alone or in small groups may associate with the females when feeding as well as breeding. Elephants roam around in search of food, consuming up to 200 kg of plant material a day. They rest in the midday heat and have one or two periods of rest at night.

Breeding

Breeding occurs at any time of the year and females on heat may mate with more than one male. The female will clear a spot for birth and is helped by other females. The gestation period is 22 months after which usually one youngster is born. The calf is suckled for two years.

Threats

Habitat destruction due to changes in land use is the primary threat since the ivory trade has reduced but not eliminated.

Conservation

The ivory trade was banned in 1989 but since 1997, limited trade has been allowed in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe and more recently, in South Africa. In some other African countries limited sport hunting is permitted, with the proceeds being used to fund community-based conservation programmes. There is a European Endangered species Programme (EEP) for the African elephant.