Baby elephant Kito has been a crowd-puller with thousands of visitors flocking to Colchester Zoo to catch their first glimpse of him.

The elephant, who is gaining between half a pound and a pound in weight each day, was born on December 6 and has proved a real crowd pleaser helping to double the number of visitors in December 2002.

Walking with mum - Kito in the elephant house.

The zoo's marketing director Alex Burr said: "There's definitely been an increase in visitors over December. We had 23,000 visitors compared with 15,000 in December 2001."

She said there had been a lot of interest in Kito's birth with e-mails and letters arriving from animal fans throughout the world.

But she added Christmas events at the zoo had also helped to attract the bumper number of visitors.

Kito is the first elephant born in the UK after he was conceived by artifical insemination and his arrival featured on television stations worldwide.

Published Friday, January 10, 2003

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