Staff at West Midland Safari Park have spotted the elephants creating their own waterpark fun, which guests can witness over the Park’s extended summer holiday period.
This year the Park’s ‘Summer Nights’ event has been extended to cover the whole of the school summer holidays, so will start from 23 July up until 4 September. Opening hours have also been increased from 9am to 9pm, giving the animals more time to explore, meet the public and play.
This is good news for the three playful African elephants who reside in Elephant Valley at the Park; 24 year old Five, 23 year old Latabe and two year old bundle of fun, Sutton.
Elephants are well known for their love of water and in the wild, they are always on the move searching for it. Luckily this is not a problem for the Park’s residents, who have constant access to water, including an elephant sized paddling pool, just on their doorstep.
Head Keeper of Elephants, Andy Plumb said, “Like any toddler, Sutton loves to play, especially when it involves Mum. Elephant calves are extremely playful and with Sutton being the only baby at the moment, naturally his favourite play mate is Mum. Although when it comes to water, Aunt Latabe takes on the babysitting duties as she loves nothing better than a good bath.”
He continued, “On warmer days, we often see all three elephants head over to the main pool and Latabe is usually the first one in, closely followed by Sutton. They splash around, throw water onto themselves and use their trunks to suck and blow out the water, which always looks spectacular! Hopefully some of our guests will get to witness this for themselves over the longer summer period.”
Sutton was born on 5th May 2014 and was the first baby elephant to be born at the Park following artificial insemination, using semen from a wild bull in South Africa.
As well as seeing the elephants play in the four-mile safari, Summer Nights visitors can look forward to the theme park being open till late, extra animal shows and encounters including a new Discover Dinosaurs talk and a craft club, suitable for all ages.
Summer Nights activities are included in the standard admission charge of £22.00 for adults, £17.00 for children aged 3-15 years and £20.00 for concessions. Admission includes a free-return ticket and children under the age of three years are admitted free of charge. Adventure Theme Park rides are charged extra.
Further information is available from the Park’s official website www.wmsp.co.uk or by telephone 01299 402114. You can find out more animal news on the Safari Park’s official Facebook page: http://www.wmsp.co.uk/facebook
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