Elephants are long lived, apparently highly intelligent mammals with complex social structures and large home ranges (e.g. median 113km2 for Asian elephants). There are over 1700 elephants housed in captivity world-wide, of which over 1000 are kept in Zoos as part of an actively managed conservation breeding programme, associated educational activities and benign scientific research aimed at improving breeding and welfare (Stevenson 2002). However, a recent RSPCA report (Clubb and Mason 2002) has suggested that there are serious welfare issues associated with keeping these large essentially herbivorous mammals in captivity. For instance, wild elephants spend between 60-80% of their waking hours feeding and foraging and will migrate in pursuit of food but in Zoos foraging accounts for only 30-40% of an elephant’s waking time budget. Animals that are prevented from performing highly motivated behaviours, such as feeding, may be prone to develop stereotypic (repetitive, apparently functionless) behaviour. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a specially designed elephant feeding device, the peanut shuttle, in increasing foraging time and decreasing stereotypy in a group of Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, housed within Blackpool Zoological Gardens.