Blackpool Zoo has been using coloured edible glitter to identify female elephant dung and help determine whether or not they are pregnant. Three female Asian elephants, Tara, Noorjahan, and Esha, have consumed food containing different colours of edible glitter to assist zookeepers in identifying their faeces. The dung collection is under a recommendation from the European Endangered Species Programme to track the females’ reproductive cycles, occurring every 13 to 16 weeks, and to ascertain pregnancy.
Stool samples are collected twice a week and sent to a research laboratory at Chester Zoo for hormone analysis. This initiative is part of the zoo’s Project Elephant, aimed at preserving the endangered Asian elephant species, listed as endangered on the IUCN red list since 1986.
