BENIDORM theme park Terra Natura's most iconic and popular resident celebrated her birthday in true Bollywood style this week as a nod to her Indian roots and invited all members of the public to join her.
Petita, who turned 46 on Saturday, is probably the Costa Blanca's best-loved elephant and has more Facebook friends than most humans.
Born in Benidorm, Petita was rejected by the rest of the herd for being 'ugly', because she was much smaller than newborn elephants usually are, and the isolation was leaving her feeling depressed.
Terra Natura paired her up with another female, Kaiso, with whom she became best friends and who helped her get in with the crowd.
She discovered Facebook at the age of 35 and now has plenty of human friends, too.
Petita's party was an explosion of colour – literally – mirroring the Indian Holi Festival with Bombay-style film music playing, a show by the Alicante Omkara Dance School accompanied by the Merakimera percussion group, over 200 kilos of coloured powder and 5,000 bottles of coloured water.
The birthday girl and her lifelong friend Kaiso were decorated by their carers with multiple colourful patterns which took days to complete, and a bindi was painted on the foreheads of each human guest – the Hindu red dot signifying the 'inner eye' and 'wisdom'.
An offering of fruit and vegetables was given to her rather than flowers – a gesture the Indians only make to the gods, and also to tourists whom they are taught are the closest thing to gods as they are so crucial to the country's wellbeing – since it was considered Petita would appreciate something she could eat rather than look at.
After the main party in the Pangea zone near the park entrance and a chorus of 'Happy Birthday To You', the crowds moved on to the Napastepur Village for a 'colour fight'.
The evening continued with an Indian-style musical parade, a colour foam party and an Indian Aqua Dance session in the water park wing of the complex, Aqua Natura.
