{"id":414668,"date":"2026-02-08T13:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T13:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/414668\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T13:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T13:46:18","slug":"scotlands-only-african-elephant-dies-aged-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/414668\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s only African elephant dies aged 54"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Mondula, the only African elephant in Scotland, passed away on Friday morning after being at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stirlingnews.co.uk\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Blair Drummond Safari<\/a> Park for the last 28 years.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 54-year-old elephant, known as Mondy, lived in a number of European zoos before being transferred from Erfurt Zoo in Germany to Blair Drummond Safari Park in 1998.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mondy had six full-time keepers dedicated to her wellbeing.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Head elephant keeper Suzie Marshall said: \u201cMondy was so beloved by everyone here and she will be much missed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/25832676.scottish-housing-scheme-announced-help-put-roots-rural-island-areas\/?ref=ed_recent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Scottish housing scheme announced to help \u2018put down roots\u2019 in rural and island areas<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cHer legacy is, however, a very important one. Having spent nearly half her life with us here at Blair Drummond, Mondy has allowed us to develop one of the most comprehensive elephant care plans in the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cAnd today, it stands as a benchmark for the care of the remaining stock of elephants in captivity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Born in 1971, it\u2019s thought that Mondy was a wild-caught orphan calf. The practice of taking young animals from the wild was common at this time.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Those caring for Mondy said this left her with \u201cspecific challenges\u201d however Blair Drummond were able to offer her a home.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>&#8216;Mondy&#8217; at Blair Drummond. (Image: Bernie Catterall)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Blair Drummond Safari Park has now become one of the leading facilities for the care of geriatric female elephants.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In 2013, the park built elephant houses for elderly female elephants where Mondy initially lived with two other female elephants, Estrella and Toto.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However, when Estrella passed in 2013 and Toto in 2016, the decision was made to house Mondy alone.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Following this, Mondy&#8217;s relationship with her keepers deepened, and she participated in more training.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  As a result of more training her physical condition improved, which massively surprised expert veterinary consultants.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Leading elephant expert Professor Phyllis C. Lee from the University of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stirlingnews.co.uk\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stirling<\/a> said: \u201cHer improvement in all aspects of physical appearance and behaviour was marked, with good and visible muscle development in her forelegs, and her sway-back is now completely gone.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cMondy will be greatly missed by all the staff, visitors and members at Blair Drummond Safari Park.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/25833148.dont-children-reform-uk-candidate-says-taxed\/?ref=ed_latest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Don&#8217;t have children? This Reform UK candidate says you should be taxed<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Managing director of the park Hector Muir said Mondy played an &#8220;important role&#8221; in ongoing work to help endangered species.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Muir added: \u201cDuring her years with us, she\u2019s taught us so much and we\u2019re so very proud of what we\u2019ve achieved together.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cHer keepers have shown exceptional dedication to her care and it\u2019s been a privilege to watch her thrive. And now it\u2019s an honour to say a very sad farewell to this special lady.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mondula, the only African elephant in Scotland, passed away on Friday morning after being at Blair Drummond Safari&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-414668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}