Chunky dunking is where it is at this summer as three tonne Tara from Blackpool finds the perfect way to cool down in the heat wave.
The beautiful Asian elephant, who was one of two new residents to arrive at Blackpool Zoo’s multimillion pound Project Elephant development earlier this year, has been making the most of the facilities by taking a dip in the outdoor pool.
With a total area of 225m² the pool gently slopes down to a depth of 3m, which, as the stunning footage shows, allows the elephants to swim fully submerged.
It can hold a whopping 19,163 of water and is fed directly from a rainwater harvesting tank that is capable of storing up to 55,000 litres collected from the roof of the building.
Adam Kenyon, Head of Elephants at Blackpool Zoo, said: “As you can see from the footage, elephants love water and are excellent divers!
“We have all been watching Tara swim around under water and pop her trunk up like a snorkel to breathe – she really has been having a whale of a time!
“Despite their size elephants can swim easily as they are quite buoyant with strong legs and feet that they can splay to help them along their way!
“Tara loves nothing more than a swim before enjoying a cooling dust bath in the hot weather – which is truly a sight to behold!”
Blackpool Zoo’s Project Elephant Base Camp opened in Spring after Tara and Minbu moved from Twycross Zoo to join resident Asian elephant Kate.
Two more, mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are set to make the 150-mile, cross-country journey later in the year. The search is on to find a suitable bull elephant to complete the herd.

Can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpBC_vtzbzI&feature=youtu.be

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