Kent's wild animal parks are too young to be counted in a recent report revealing elephants in European zoos live half as long as those born in the wild.

The study, which analysed data from more that 4,500 elephants, showed elephants in captivity died younger than those living in protected populations in Africa or working in timber camps in Burma.

Ros Clubb from the RSPCA and fellow researchers from around the world have found elephants often suffer from mental and physical problems when born and raised in unnatural environments.

A separate study by Bristol University, also out today, showed the 69 elephants currently kept in UK zoos commonly suffer lameness, obesity and abnormal stereotypic behaviour linked with handling and limited living space.

But Tricia Corkhill, Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks spokesman, said they have a very good track record in caring for elephants.

She said: "People who know us know that our standards of care are very high. We do very well with them - they are very difficult to breed in the UK but we have lots of success - of the 16 elephants that we have here nine were born at Howletts, all of them by one 31-year-old bull elephant. We are very proud of our work."

As the youngest elephant born into captivity at the park is only 10 years old, there is no record of elephant deaths at the zoo.

Ms Corkhill says their work is necessary to stop the animals from becoming extinct.

She said: "They are poached and killed for ivory and they will disappear unless there is a safe place for them to be reared and reintroduced into the wild.

"We've done this already with our gorillas and our rhinos, but we can't do it with the elephants yet because they will still be poached."

Asian elephants fared worst in the study by the RSPCA, which showed they are twice as likely to die before their first birthday if born in European zoos when compared to those born in captivity in Burmese logging camps.

Kent’s wildlife parks only contain African elephants though, which Ros Clubb said fared much better.

She said: "The news is a little better for African elephants in that they have comparable infant mortality with those in the wild.

"We did find that they still weren't surviving as long in zoos as they were in the wild though."

The RSPCA is calling for a phase-out of zoo elephants following concerning new scientific studies.