Caught on CCTV: Bedtime in Our Elephant Barn!
15th Oct 2026
Have you ever wondered how elephants sleep? We’re excited to share night-time CCTV footage capturing two of our African bull elephants, Impi and Uli, settling down for a peaceful night’s rest at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm.
The footage offers a fascinating insight into their sleeping habits, but it also gives our team an important opportunity to monitor how our elephants are settling into life together. Having only recently begun sharing their living space around the clock, we’re paying close attention to their behaviour, sleep patterns and overnight habits.
One particularly positive moment sees Impi, who is newer to the group, feeling comfortable enough to choose to lie down and sleep, with Uli, who has been at Noah’s Ark for longer, choosing to lie down beside him. Seeing the two bulls resting together is an encouraging sign that positive bonds are forming between them. We’re seeing these positive relationships develop across all five of our male elephants.
How do elephants sleep?
Elephants typically sleep for around four to six hours a night, although their sleeping patterns are quite different from ours. Rather than sleeping for one long stretch, they usually rest for around one to two hours at a time before getting up and moving around. When they settle down to sleep again, they will often lie on their opposite side.
This is important because elephants are such large and heavy animals. Spending too long lying on one side can cause pressure to build up on their internal organs, so changing sides helps them remain comfortable throughout the night.
Creating a comfortable place to rest
At Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, we’ve incorporated deep sand mounds into our elephants’ indoor environment to provide comfortable sleeping platforms. The sand helps relieve pressure on their feet and provides a supportive surface, while also making it easier for them to get back up when they’re ready to move around.
Our elephants also have access to the outdoors throughout the night and are never confined to the barn. This means they can choose where they spend their time, whether that’s resting indoors or exploring the sand and grass paddocks outside.
Providing choice, comfort and space is an important part of supporting our elephants’ welfare and allowing them to express their natural behaviours.
Getting to know our elephant herd
Elephant Eden is our 20-acre habitat, home to five African bull elephants: Janu, Sutton, Uli, Impi and Mchumba. Impi and Mchumba are our more recent arrivals, joining the established group as part of our ongoing commitment to the care and management of African elephants.
The habitat plays an important role in the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for African elephants. It provides space for individual males to live together and integrate into a multi-generational group, where they can learn from one another and display natural behaviours.
Environments like Elephant Eden are important for the successful management of African elephants within the wider European zoo community, recognising that males and females have different social and spatial needs.
Our night-time CCTV footage offers a small but valuable glimpse into the lives of our elephants and the relationships developing between them. Seeing Impi and Uli choose to rest alongside one another is an encouraging moment for our team as we continue to monitor how the group settles together.
You can see all five of our male elephants at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm in our Elephant Eden habitat. Join our daily educational elephant keeper talk at 1:30pm to learn more about these incredible animals, their behaviour and the care they receive from our team.
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