Motty was a hybrid Asian – African elephant cross who, sadly, only lived for ten days. He was the only such hybrid known to have occurred in the world. The fact that the two species could interbreed to produce a living offspring was as unexpected as it was intriguing. Sadly, Motty’s death from an acute bacterial infection was equally unexpected. His mother was Sheba and his father was Bubbles – an African bull who was the last African elephant to live at the zoo.