Tama Zoo is home to three Asian Elephant: Anura (male, 61 years old), Amara (female, 9 years old), and Vidura (male, 6 years old).

Basically, animal keeper go home in the evening after finishing their work, and the elephants spend the night alone. The elephants' behavior at night is recorded on video and checked the next day. Anura is always alone because she cannot be with Amara and Vidura, but Amara and Vidura are together 24 hours a day.

Elephants sleep for 3 to 6 hours a night, repeating several short naps of 1 to 2 hours each. They sleep in two positions: lying completely on their side and dozing while standing. Dozing is a lighter sleep than lying on their side, and they are in a state of drowsiness. They often alternate between lying on their side, but since elephants cannot roll over in their sleep, they stand up and turn when switching sides.

Amala and Vidura, who arrived at the zoo from Sri Lanka in November 2012, have been together since they were young and are very close. This can be observed in their daytime behavior, but it is even clearer when you watch them at night. After entering their enclosure in the evening, the two begin to forage. After eating for a while, Amala is the first to lie down and fall asleep. Vidura, who had been eating until then, stands beside the sleeping Amala as if to protect her, and sometimes even leans over her as they doze off.

After about one or two hours, Amara wakes up and starts eating again, and Vidura joins her. Once they've finished eating, the two play together, intertwining their noses and pushing each other. After they've finished playing, Vidura lies down and starts to sleep, and Amara goes to Vidura's side, stands protectively, and begins to doze off herself.

When one elephant is sleeping, the other stands beside it, showing concern for the sleeping elephant. When both elephants sleep at the same time, they sleep huddled together in a formation resembling the Japanese character for "two" rather than "three." Seeing them like this really makes you realize that elephants are highly social animals.

Incidentally, perhaps because Anura spends long periods of time alone, she remains completely unfazed no matter how noisy the other two are in the next room, continuing to forage and rest at her own pace.

Photo above: Vidura (left) and Amara foraging in the enclosure.
Photo below: Two animals sleeping, as seen on the monitor screen.

[Tama Zoo Tama Zoological Park]

(March 21, 2014)