After falling asleep in a mound of sand, a young elephant left a flawless mold on his head and trunk.
After nodding off in his enclosure, one-year-old Asian elephant bull Anjan left the fossil-like picture.
His caretakers at Chester Zoo were taken aback when they spotted the flawless footprint while feeding him breakfast on Saturday.
The zoo stated in a tweet about the 4ft-long indentation, ‘Elephants lie on their sides to sleep for roughly four hours a night – time for Anjan to produce his beautiful piece of animal art!’ Since sharing the photo, the zoo has been bo.mb.arded with requests to save the sand sculpture.
Unfortunately, the sand creation only lasted a few minutes before being de.st.ro.yed by Anjan, who walked over it moments after his keepers shot it.
‘The print was regrettably left very much in the midst of the elephant habitat, so some very large footprints have subsequently passed through,’ said a zoo o fficial.
‘Given the amazing reaction to the image, I’m sure the keepers will keep an extra look out for any subsequent prints that are created.’
Anjan has a history of surprising his caretakers. He was born three months beyond his due date, raising fears that his mother, Thi, had miscarried him. But he was born absolutely healthy in 2018 at the age of 25 months, three months longer than average.
Anjan was named after Anjan Nath, a conservationist with whom the zoo collaborates on a project in Assam, northern India.
