Whipsnade Zoo keeps a herd of nine Asian elephants. Their paddock is seven acres, and featured three pools, mud wallows and dust baths. The elephant herd has a brand new indoor facility, the Centre for Elephant Care, which opened in Easter of 2017.
The Elephant and Rhino Pavilion was built as a successor to Anthony Salvin Junior's Elephant and Rhinoceros House of 1868-69. Plans for a new building had been prepared by Tecton in 1939, but the outbreak of war prevented their implementation. The site was chosen in 1950 and the building became the principal southern focus of Casson's 1958 redevelopment plan. It was built 1962-65, brief by Desmond Morris, Curator of Mammals; Sir Hugh Casson, Neville Conder and Partners, architects; John Mowlem and Company Limited, building contractors. Paddock pool added in 1971. Rhino moat altered 1988. It is Grade II listed.
The Zoo's Education Department and Centre for Life Studies is used for the education of school parties, teachers and others, including zoo staff. It is in the far north western corner of the Zoo ground, off the track of most visitors, and on a site that allows access outside of Zoo hours. Built 1973-1975, partly funded by the Wolfson Foundation; Sir Hugh Casson, Neville Conder and Partners (Anthony Reich), architects; W M Glendinning Limited, contractors. The two-storey north-west wing, the Centre for Life Studies, was an afterthought. It was originally an Inner London Education Authority Teachers' Centre and was designed with spaces for tuition, research and the accommodation of small animals
