A warm welcome as Upali joins the elephant family

A highly anticipated arrival at Le PAL

On 28th February, Le PAL had the pleasure to welcome Upali, an Asian elephant from Dublin zoo in Ireland. He arrived at Le PAL to breed with Nina, mother of the famous little Tom, who was born in 2014. To ensure his journey was as comfortable as possible, Upali was trained beforehand so that he could enter his transport crate of his own free will. Upali was introduced to his new environment without any problems, and immediately settled in without suffering stress of any kind.

Well adjusted

Two days after moving into Le PAL, Upali met his new friends. Their first contact went very well. Acra, the matriarch, was the first to show interest, and it was she who made the first move to meet the new resident. At first quite impressed by this highly imposing male, it only took little Tom a few days to get used to him being there. He now has no problems living with Upali, and they are all getting along fine, playing and walking around with each other.

Upali, dad-to-be at Le PAL!

Upali, a 24 year old elephant weighing 5.2 tonnes, has arrived at Le PAL with one very specific task: to breed. Asian elephants are in fact endangered, and it is important to expand the zoo’s gene pool. Upali is very fertile; just think, he has already fathered 6 calves! So we have no doubt at all that Tom may have a little brother or sister within the next few years! And on 15th March, less than a month after our elephant arrived, our young couple, Nina and Upali have, to say the least, already been busy! But there is a 24-month gestation period before we might witness the happy event of the appearance of a little trunk... So we need to be patient!