This week, Sutton the African Elephant, celebrated his 10th birthday with his keepers and visitors at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm.
Elephant keepers at Noah's Ark created birthday enrichment for Sutton to mark the occasion, which Sutton enjoyed with Janu and Uli, two other African Elephants at Elephant Eden.
Sutton was the first male elephant in the world to be born by artificial insemination, using semen from a wild bull. At the start of May last year, Sutton transferred from West Midland Safari Park and joined 31-year-old Shaka and 17-year-old Janu at the zoo farm in Wraxall.
Sutton celebrated his 10th Birthday at Elephant Eden. Officially opened by HRH Princess Anne a decade ago, the world leading elephant facility covers an area of 20 acres with a wide range of state-of-the-art features including a pool, large heated indoor barn with sand yards and water sprinklers, expansive fields and a large willow plantation - Elephant Eden was designed to provide a natural and spacious environment for elephants to foster their physical and mental well-being. Elephant Eden is home to four African elephants, Shaka, Janu, Uli and Sutton.
The facility provides a much-needed support 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 zoo community, in recognition of the differing social and spatial needs of male and females.
Happy Birthday Sutton!
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