Chester was the first zoo in the UK to successfully breed Asian elephants in captivity.
The most famous of these was Jubilee (1977–2003), so named as he was born in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
The zoo currently has a breeding herd of six elephants, composed of two males and four females.

The elephant house also used to house African elephants, rhinos, hippos and tapirs.
Motty, a hybrid African-Asian elephant calf was born in July 1978, but died in infancy.

A £2 million breeding facility modelled on an Assam rainforest called Elephants of the Asian Forest opened in Easter 2006, as a major alteration of the zoo's previous elephant house.
Inside the elephant house, other indigenous Asian species are exhibited, including, azure-winged magpies, red-billed blue magpies, red-bellied squirrels, Belanger's tree shrews and northern Luzon giant cloud rats.
The former arowana aquarium now holds McCord's box turtle along with various species of Asiatic fish.

For recent research into a disease risk, see Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus.
Chester was the first zoo in the UK to successfully breed Asian elephants in captivity. The most famous of these was Jubilee (1977–2003), so named as he was born in 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The zoo currently has a breeding herd of six elephants, composed of two males and four females.
The elephant house also used to house African elephants, rhinos, hippos and tapirs. Motty, a hybrid African-Asian elephant calf was born in July 1978, but died in infancy.
A £2 million breeding facility modelled on an Assam rainforest called Elephants of the Asian Forest opened in Easter 2006, as a major alteration of the zoo's previous elephant house. Inside the elephant house, other indigenous Asian species are exhibited, including, azure-winged magpies, red-billed blue magpies, red-bellied squirrels, Belanger's tree shrews and northern Luzon giant cloud rats. The former arowana aquarium now holds McCord's box turtle along with various species of Asiatic fish.
For recent research into a disease risk, see Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus.
Chester Zoo