Welcome to our beautiful rescued elephants! Learn about their personalities, who they are, what they like, and where they came from.
The Thai elephant is the official national animal of Thailand. Elephants found in Thailand are the Indian elephant, a sub-species of the Asian elephant (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran, and Bornean).
However, Thai elephants have slight differences from other elephants of that sub-species. They are smaller, have shorter front legs, and a thicker body than their Indian counterparts.
In Thailand, there are an estimated 3,000- 4,000 elephants. Around half of this number are domesticated.
This domestication led to elephants becoming an endangered species in Thailand in 1986.
Lotus is named after the beautiful water lily and means ‘บัว’ or ‘Bua’ in Thai and is a 46-year-old female elephant.
Lotus was the first elephant we rescued after the devastating covid-19 pandemic to restart our elephant sanctuary. We rescued her from an elephant riding park in Phuket where she had been chained to a tree on a hillside for 2 years and had become very skinny.
Lotus now weighs a healthy 2,500-3,000kg which is still smaller for elephants in Thailand resulting in some people commenting that she might be a smaller Borneo pygmy elephant, another subspecies of the Asian elephant.
Lotus loves the mud spa, chasing chickens around, and throwing grass & twigs onto her head. Her personality is similar to a kid, running around, loves to play, loves people, and of course, loves to eat! We love our beautiful Lotus!
Bow is named after the word ‘Bowtie’ and is a 41-year-old female elephant.
She is the second elephant we rescued and comes from the same Phuket riding park as Lotus, where she was forced to spend long hours taking tourists for rides on her back. Bow had also been chained up to a tree on a hillside for long periods during the covid pandemic and was dangerously underweight when we rescued her.
Bow now weighs a very healthy 3,500-4,000kg and her bigger size makes her the ‘Queen’ at our sanctuary. She is absolutely beautiful, has a strong personality, and is very smart.
Bow is much quieter than Lotus and Thonglor and enjoys walking slowly and calmly. Of course, like all elephants, she loves visitors with food! She is the darling of our sanctuary!
Thonglor is originally from the Satuek District of Buriram in Southeast Thailand. She is a 45-year-old female elephant who spent the majority of her life providing riding tours to tourists in Phuket.
With the onset of the COVID -19 pandemic, Thonglor lost her work and was returned to her owners in Buriram where she was chained to a short lead and given minimal food and attention.
Phuket Nature Elephant Reserve was able to come to Thonglor’s rescue and provide her with the care and attention she requires. Thonglor is friendly, warm-hearted, and playful.
She is our most active elephant to date. She loves to explore our lush green elephant habitat and is always the first one to welcome our new visitors. Her favourite food is bananas!