Elephantine Valentine
Published on 14th February, 2008
a new baby?
Here's a true Benidorm love story to warm the cockles of your heart. It concerns one of the elephants at Terra Natura called Petita. When she arrived a couple of years ago she was shunned by all the other elephants in the herd and spent most of her time alone.
Experts at the park reckoned that the aptly named Petita, was just too small – weighing in at only 2900 kilos, much less than the normal 4000 kilos for a lady Asian elephant. It seems that the
males are much more inclined to have the hots for strong, healthy looking lady elephants as they are better for the survival of the species. So not only was size an important factor, but also beauty,
as poor Petita had a badly marked head and jaw and excessively long legs which were regarded as ugly by the others in the herd.
Now everything has changed and 35 year old Petita has a boyfriend! His name is Luka, who also has long legs and weighs 5 tonnes. Observers from Terra Natura say the pair's relationship is so 'warm'
that they wouldn't be surprised to see a new baby elephant in the park in 22 months which is the normal gestation period for these creatures.
Awwww. Isn't that nice?
Where am I? 
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