Melbourne Zoo herd grieving after nine-year-old elephant dies

2023-08-24 - Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo’s nine-year-old elephant Man Jai has died after a sudden illness. The Asian elephant was diagnosed with an incurable disease on Monday after zookeepers noticed lethargy and swelling in his neck. He received antiviral treatments for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), but his health rapidly declined and he died early on Thursday morning.

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Three Asian elephants pregnant at Melbourne Zoo

2021-11-13 - Melbourne, Australia.

For the first time in Melbourne Zoo’s history, three Asian elephants have become pregnant naturally and will give birth next year. New mum Mali, who was also born at the zoo 11 years ago, is sharing her pregnancy journey with her 28-year-old mother Dokkoon, as well as 20-year-old Num-Oi.

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Fired elephant keeper breaks back into the zoo to feed and photograph the animals - adding to series of offences as his life unravelled due to cancer and a drug habit

2020-11-24 - Melbourne, Australia.

An elephant keeper who lost his job because of 'spiralling' drug use has been sentenced for breaking into the zoo were he used to work in order to feed animals and take selfies with them. Lucas McGhie, 36, was sentenced in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Friday after he pleaded guilty to trespass charges from sneaking into Melbourne Zoo with three others in the early hours of April 14 last year.

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Nestled with mother, vets and keepers, "little fighter" Willow loses her battle

2016-08-02 - Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo´s elephant calf Willow had endured a lot of pain and had gained a reputation as a fighter in her short life, but it was only on Monday that her keepers realised the "sweet, adorable little thing" was not going to make it.

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Melbourne Zoo"s boisterous new baby elephant has plenty to trumpet about - he has a new name.

2014-02-01 - Melbourne, Australia.

The new calf has been named Man Jai, which means "confident" in Thai. A special naming celebration was held at Melbourne Zoo on Saturday. The elephant´s name was chosen by zoo members as part of an online poll. Other possible options for the lively zoo addition included Sai, meaning tropical tree or Look Nam, which means "likes water".

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Baby elephant Sanook died accidentally while playing with favourite toy, Melbourne Zoo says

2013-12-04 - Melbourne, Australia.

Sanook, the 11-month-old Asian elephant calf at Melbourne Zoo has died after becoming entangled in a favourite toy. "The CCTV footage shows that at 7pm while playing with the tyre, Sanook managed to manoeuvre it in an unusual way that caused his head to become caught," Melbourne Zoo director Kevin Tanner said in the statement.

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Victoria"s top tourist attraction named at awards

2013-11-12 - Melbourne, Australia.

The Melbourne Zoo was named the best major tourist attraction at the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards on Monday night. The nod to the zoo breaks a three-year winning streak by the Melbourne Museum, which had won the top award on the back of some blockbuster exhibitions including Tutankhamun and Titanic. The zoo´s award, announced at a black-tie event at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, was given for its 150th anniversary campaign last year that featured major events around baby...

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Melbourne Zoo elephant expecting second calf soon

2013-10-29 - Melbourne, Australia.

A Melbourne Zoo elephant that gave birth to the first female calf in Australia four years ago is about to make history again. Zoo head vet Michael Lynch says it could still be a while before the calf is born. "We really expect it between the 1st and the 21st of November."

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Meet Sanook: Melbourne Zoo"s baby elephant named by Herald Sun readers

2013-03-14 - Melbourne, Australia.

More than 4,000 Victorians voted in the Herald Sun´s naming competition and Sanook, which means fun-loving and cheerful, was the overwhelming favourite, ahead of Seri and Chaiya. Thai consulate general Simon Wallace said the elephant keepers supplied attributes that best described Sanook and Thai words were shortlisted from their suggestions.

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Elephants took 24 million generations to get to their current size, a study has shown

2012-01-31 - Melbourne, Australia.

Mammals evolved from the size of a mouse to that of an elephant during that time Shrinking is a much faster process, however. Large-scale reductions in size leading to dwarfism only take around 100,000 generations. Scientists writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at 28 groups of mammals, including elephants, primates and whales.

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Baby elephant arrives at Melbourne Zoo

2010-09-10 - Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo´s baby elephant brood is growing, with a half-brother for Mali arriving after a difficult and dangerous four-day labour. Kulab´s massive 142-kilogram baby was born on Friday morning after a 22-month pregnancy, but zoo staff were desperately worried for both mother and offspring in the later stages of labour.

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Elephant Keeper - Trail of the Elephants

2010-03-04 - Melbourne , Australia.

This is a key position for the continuing development and evolution of Zoos Victoria’s elephant program with the target of providing best practice animal care in a holistic environment. Candidates will require a minimum of five years of direct contact (free contact) elephant experience. Candidates will also require a high level of competency in handling elephants, and an understanding of traditional and progressive training techniques.

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Melbourne baby elephant named Mali

2010-02-25 - Melbourne, Australia.

With her playful poise she's inspired a lot of oohs and ahhs and now, a bit of humming too. Melbourne Zoo's baby elephant has been blessed by Buddhist monks after Victorians voted to name her "Mali", the Thai word for the jasmine flower. Arriving at the zoo on Thursday in orange robes, the monks from three Buddhist temples began a rumbling hum as they chanted before Mali and her mum Dokkoon.

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Names shortlisted for baby elephant

2010-02-16 - Melbourne, Australia.

The Thai names for five floral emblems have been short-listed and people can vote online to select the winner. The female baby elephant is one month old today and Premier John Brumby says Victorians have warmed to the calf. "There is nothing quite like a baby elephant and they're up and running about from the first day," he said. "She's unbelievably playful. She's just running around with her mum, running around with her aunty out there, she's always mucking around their legs." Thailand's Honora...

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Zoo urged to move elephant herd to Werribee

2010-02-11 - Melbourne, Australia. Bridie Smith

THE former director of the Seattle and Werribee zoos has called for Melbourne Zoo's growing elephant herd to be relocated to the more spacious Werribee Open Range Zoo as a matter of urgency. A second elephant, Kulab, which arrived from Thailand with new mother Dokkoon in 2006, is due to give birth in August-September. The arrival of a second calf would swell the zoo's city campus herd to seven, following the birth last month of Victoria's first baby elephant. David Hancocks said that as Parkvill...

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Baby elephant to make big debut

2010-02-09 - Melbourne, Australia. Kathy Lord

The as-yet unnamed female, born on January 16, will go on display for short periods of time at first, but viewing times will be extended once she has adjusted to life in the public glare. The youngster is the first baby elephant born in the zoo's 148-year history, the first elephant in Australia conceived by artificial insemination, and only the second baby elephant ever born in Australia. But she will not be on her own for long. The zoo is expecting another baby elephant in August or September ...

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Werribee’s jumbo nursery

2010-02-09 - Melbourne, Australia. Kellie Cameron

ELEPHANTS could be packing their trunks for Wyndham, thanks to Melbourne Zoo’s elephant breeding program. Werribee Open Range Zoo director Sally Lewis said the local zoo could become a second home to elephants born at Melbourne. But with elephant pregnancies lasting 22 months, don’t expect to see them in the short term. Melbourne Zoo is Victoria’s only zoo with elephants. One of its five Asian elephants, Dokkoon, gave birth to the zoo’s first baby elephant last month, as part of a breed...

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DOKKOON DELIVERS

2010-01-16 - Melbourne, Australia.

Female Asian Elephant Born at 1:10am The first baby elephant in Melbourne Zoo's 147-year history was born early today to the delight of tired but ecstatic Zoo staff. After weeks of round the clock monitoring, and enormous anticipation, Asian Elephant Dokkoon became the first elephant in Australia to give birth to a female calf and also to deliver a baby conceived by artificial insemination.

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Vet awaits big day - the birth of an elephant

2009-12-04 - Melbourne, Australia. CAROLYN WEBB

In 20 YEARS as a vet, Michael Lynch has delivered baby cows, giraffes, bison, zebras, gorillas and meerkats. All being well, he is about to assist at his first elephant birth - also Melbourne Zoo's first - and says it will top them all.

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Bong Su the elephant is set to become a father

2009-02-21 - Melbourne Zoo, Australia. Eleni Hale

Bong Su, the elephant responsible for impregnating Melbourne Zoo's new mother Kulab, now could father dozens of calves across the globe after keepers developed a method of exporting his sperm, thanks to the donation of a sperm-freezing machine from the German Government. The Asian elephant, 36, who keepers describe as "easygoing" and "extremely attractive", has a mind-boggling sperm count of up to 2.5 billion per millilitre compared with the average of 800 million per millilitre.

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Melbourne Zoo celebrates second elephant pregnancy

2009-02-19 - Melbourne, Australia. ABC NEWS

An elephant breeding program at the Melbourne Zoo has had another success, with the announcement of a second pregnancy. Kulab, a 10-year-old Asian elephant, has been artificially inseminated and will give birth next spring. The conservation program has resulted in four pregnancies, two at Melbourne and two at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The pregnancy resulted from an artificial insemination procedure carried out in late November, with the zoo's bull elephant Bong Su the donor. Environment Minister Ga...

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Where elephants walk

2008-12-03 - Melbourn, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo's first elephant, Ranee, arrived at the Parkville campus to much fanfare in March 1883. Within a week the Asian elephant, fresh from Calcutta, was being saddled up in the summer heat for visitors to sit atop as she plodded her way along a meandering, purpose-built route

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Melbourne Zoo"s super-stud could help save species

2008-11-25 - Melbourne, Australia. Bridie Smith

A TEAM of researchers working at Melbourne Zoo believes new techniques for freezing elephant sperm will prove the breakthrough the endangered species needs. And the zoo's super-stud Bong Su — a 34-year-old bull regarded as one of the world's most fertile Asian elephants because of his high sperm count — will play a key part, with the frozen sperm to be made available to overseas zoos.

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Magical role for a young princess

2008-11-12 - Melbourne, Australia.

EMILY Robins was excited when invited to audition for the lead role in a new Australian children's series in which she would both act and sing. "I'd been singing all my life in musical theatre and competitions and stuff like that," says the 19-year-old from New Zealand, who plays a 16-year-old who discovers she is a princess from an exotic, mystical kingdom, in The Elephant Princess. "The fact that they were looking for a singer and an actor was perfect for me."

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Siam"s a big star

2008-11-07 - Melbourne, Australia. Nathanael Cooper

There is no shortage of big stars who hail from the Sunshine Coast, but none of them are quite as big as our latest celebrity. In fact, she's so big that while most stars have their own trailer on set, this one has a whole truck to herself.Siam, an Asian elephant that weighs more than 500kg, resides at Australia Zoo and has recently finished filming a role in Network Ten's upcoming children's drama, The Elephant Princess. Shot in Melbourne, The Elephant Princess is about a young girl who discove...

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Three elephants pregnant in Australia

2008-08-28 - Melbourne, Australia.

No baby elephant has ever been born in Australia - but now three elephants are pregnant at zoos in Sydney and Melbourne. Zoo authorities have announced a third elephant, Pontipp, is in the maternity wing, as a result of artificial insemination (AI) at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. She joins Thong Dee, impregnated naturally by mate Gong at Taronga last year and Dokkoon which was impregnated by artificial insemination at Melbourne Zoo also last year. The two AI infants were sired by Melbourne's Bong Su - ...

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Melbourne Zoo’s new elephant is pregnant

2008-08-19 - Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo has confirmed that 15 year old Dokkoon, one of three Asian Elephants that arrived in November 2006, is pregnant. The pregnancy is the result of artificial insemination carried out in March by the Melbourne Zoo and visiting fertility specialists from the Berlin Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. Bong Su, Melbourne Zoo’s bull elephant is the father. The pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasound in early June. The ultrasound showed a black sack of amniotic fluid containing a tiny ...

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Melbourne elephant breaks fertility record

2008-06-03 - Melbourne, Australia. MIKI PERKINS

BONG Su, the 34-year-old bull elephant at the Melbourne Zoo, has smashed an Australian and a world record, and all it took was a little gentle persuasion. Not only did he help companion Dokkoon become the first elephant in Australia to get pregnant through artificial insemination, but he has broken the world record for elephant sperm concentration — 2.2 billion sperm per millilitre, compared with the average of 600 million a millilitre.

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Melbourne Zoo celebrates elephant pregnancy

2008-06-02 - Melbourne, Australia.

An ultra-sound has confirmed one of the Melbourne Zoo's elephants is pregnant. The zoo is celebrating the pregnancy of a 15 year old endangered Asian elephant, named "Dokkoon". It is the first elephant pregnancy at the Melbourne Zoo. It is also the first artificial insemination pregnancy at any Australian zoo. The elephant's pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasound examination carried out on Saturday by fertility experts from Berlin working with the zoo's veterinarians.

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A Day at Melbourne Zoo (March 14th)

2008-03-19 - Melbourne, Australia.

...Then I wandered to the elephant yard. Just after that, Caroline joined me. As we were starting to walk away for lunch, the elephant keeper walked past and said it was time for elephant painting, if we were interested. So of course we followed.

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Hopes for patter of elephant feet

2008-02-24 - Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo hopes to breed its first Asian elephant to help stocks of the endangered species. There are only 25,000 Asian elephants left in the world as human population growth in their native environment puts pressure on their food supply. Blood tests reveal a 15-year-old female called Dokkoon will be able to fall pregnant next month, one of only three times each year. Senior elephant keeper Steve Blanchard said the zoo's only male, Bong Su, had continued to warm to his new female counterpart...

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Zoo chief"s home became menagerie for fund-raising event

2008-01-23 - Melbourne, Australia. Cameron Houston and Royce Millar

Concern about the Toorak soiree follows an investigation by The Age into allegations of abuse and neglect at Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary, including the stabbing of an elephant with a marlin spike. Zoos Victoria acting chief executive Matt Vincent said senior keeper Pat Flora had taken "appropriate action" when Thai elephant Dokkoon failed to respond to a command. He said no formal complaint was lodged against Mr Flora, and he continued to work at the zoo as head keeper of many of the...

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Victorian Government asks Melbourne Zoo to answer animal cruelty accusations

2008-01-21 - Melbourne, Australia.

The Victorian Government has asked Melbourne Zoo to respond to claims of animal neglect. Melbourne Zoo has denied claims that animals have been mistreated, saying a widely reported incident involving an elephant was a case of a keeper protecting himself. The reports said a former zoo staff member saw an elephant being repeatedly jabbed in the foot by a trainer. Victorian Premier John Brumby says the Government is expecting to receive a written response from zoo management soon.

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Melbourne Zoo denies cruelty claims

2008-01-20 - Melbourne, Australia. Kellie Cameron

MELBOURNE Zoo has hit back at claims an elephant was stabbed and animals mistreated on their grounds. Zoos Victoria Life Sciences director Matt Vincent said the merlin spike, carried by keepers to care for elephants' feet, did not break the animal's skin and was used only when two keepers were at risk. Reports accused a handler of stabbing an elephant, Dokkoon, more than 12 times with a sharp metal spike to restrain it. Mr Vincent rejected outright all claims of animal abuse and cruelty.

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Zoo elephant abuse

2008-01-19 - Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Zoo is at the centre of an animal abuse scandal after allegations that an elephant was stabbed by a zookeeper more than a dozen times with a sharp metal spike. But the Zoo claims the trainer's actions were justified. The elephant was jabbed with a small implement used normally for foot care, but the animal was not harmed, stated Melbourne Zoo Director, Matt Vincent. He believes labelling the stabbing as cruelty is an over exaggeration. RSPCA has described the behaviour as 'utterly shoc...

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Animal rights and wrongs

2008-01-19 - Melbourne, Australia. Royce Millar and Cameron Houston

Former senior zoo curator and now zoo consultant Peter Stroud was in charge of the elephant program in the early 2000s and also party to discussions about the Thai elephants. Stroud now says he questions why, if purchase of the elephants was for conservation and animal welfare, neither Melbourne nor Taronga sent the animals to their respective open-range zoos. "Clearly the box office is an issue," he says. "It's preposterous to pretend that breeding elephants in Australia is some type of contrib...

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Melbourne Zoo rocked by abuse allegations

2008-01-19 - Melbourne, Australia. Royce Millar and Cameron Houston

SENIOR zoo experts, staff and the RSPCA have accused the Melbourne Zoo of abuse and neglect of animals, including one incident where an animal trainer stabbed an elephant more than a dozen times with a sharp metal spike. A confidential internal memo from zookeeper Bryan Welch to then zoo director Matt Vincent reported the stabbing in May last year of a 13-year-old elephant, Dokkoon, with a marlin spike ¡ª a large, needle-like implement used to untie rope knots. In the memo, Mr Welch says anima...

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Finding Stories both tragic and suprising

2007-11-24 - Melbourne, Australia. Siggyg

I have a great-great uncle who was killed by an elephant. Yes, I am telling the truth. He was an elephant keeper at the Melbourne Zoo here in Australia, and he was crushed by one of his charges. The coroner's report discusses the places, the layout and daily routine of a zoo that I know well, but from 50-60 years later. I have found that being able to access coroner's reports through my State's Public Records Office has allowed me to find some fascinating stories that can then lead to a better u...

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A birthday theyll never forget

2007-10-06 - Melbourne, United States.

LOADS of face paint will be slapped on today as the Melbourne Zoo celebrates its 145th birthday. Elephants Numoi, 6, and Kulab, 8, got right into the spirit of the bash with the anniversary numerals painted on their foreheads. They and another elephant, Dokkoon, are among the zoo's newest residents and are enjoying the extensive Trail of the Elephants area in its Malaysian-themed setting.

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DNA key in dung deal to save Cambodian elephants

2007-08-03 - Melbourne, Australia. Chee Chee Leung

IT'S a big job but someone's got to do it. Melbourne scientists are to run DNA tests on elephant dung sent from Cambodia to help work out numbers and monitor wild populations in the formerly war-torn nation. Rangers have collected almost 600 elephant dung samples from the Cardamom Mountains in the country's south-west, a former stronghold of the Khmer Rouge. The specimens have been packed in test tubes and are due to arrive next month in Melbourne, where they will be analysed by biologists at Wa...

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Elephants settle into new home in Melbourne Zoo

2006-12-06 - MELBOURNE, Australia. Emily Power

Females Dokkoon, Kulab and Num-Oi are thriving at Melbourne Zoo after two years in quarantine on the Cocos Islands. To the delight of keepers, resident cow Mek Kapah, who had not had contact with other female elephants for 25 years, quickly warmed to the arrivals. Keeper Manu Ludden, who has forged a strong bond with the elephants after accompanying them in quarantine, said Mek Kapah has had a settling influence on the youngsters.

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Melbourne Zoo: Elephants are here!

2006-11-06 - MELBOURNE, Australia.

MELBOURNE'S three new elephants Dokkoon, Kulab and Num-Oi have finally arrived after two years, a legal wrangle, protests, two quarantine camps and a lot of flying. A Russian Ilyushin cargo plane delivered at Avalon airport. The three females were placed on tray trucks and driven to Melbourne Zoo, and were last night settling in to the Trail of the Elephants enclosure.

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Melbourne Zoo"s new elephants due by Christmas

2006-10-08 - Melbourne, Australia.

THREE young Asian elephants bound for a breeding program in the Melbourne Zoo are expected to arrive before Christmas. The three — 12-year-old Dokkoon and five-year-olds Kulab and Num-Oi — will be used in Australia's first elephant breeding program.
The Melbourne Zoo's Judith Henke confirmed that the animals would arrive before Christmas, but there was no firm date yet. "They are thriving and have been enjoying their time on the Cocos, rolling in the sand and eating coconuts," she sa...

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Spy cams to watch over zoo elephants

2006-02-07 - MELBOURNE, Australia. Sarah Wotherspoon

Zoo will welcome three Asian elephants this year after a tribunal yesterday approved their entry. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal imposed 18 conditions. The three female elephants -- Num-Oi, Dokkoon and Kulab -- will join cow Mek Kapah and bull Bong Su in the zoo's $13.5 million Trail of the Elephants enclosure. Five other Thai-reared elephants will go to Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The Sydney Zoo has been told the elephants will be moved to Dubbo if 22 conditions are not met.

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Fossil find complicates story of how the elephant got its ears

2005-02-14 - Melbourne, Australia.

How the elephant got its ears has just become a more complicated story thanks to the discovery of a fossilised shrew-like animal that lived 115 million years ago. It was once thought that all mammals - from kangaroos to whales - developed the tiny auditory bones of the middle ear just once in their common evolutionary history. But a fossil jawbone of a primitive mammal that lived in Australia suggests that the middle-ear bones - which allow animals as diverse as shrews and humans to hear sounds ...

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24 years on Internet!

ELEPHANT NEWS was created on 2001 in Munich, and relaunched in Phnom Penh in 2020, with almost 8 000 links to news articles about elephants on the Internet. A number of articles now also have a cross reference to the elephant database, either for individuals elephants and/or to an article about the location holding

Elephants aid locals in creating firebreaks in Chiang Mai forest

2025-03-27 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In a united effort to prevent forest fires, a team of three elephants joined over 20 locals in constructing firebreaks in Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng district on Wednesday. The initiative, led by Phra Kh...

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 Read about Plai Valentine in the Elephant Database

 Read about Saen Elephant Family Home in the Elephant Database

Wild tusker Kasera Komban found dead in abandoned septic tank

2025-03-27 - Cholamunda, India.

A Wild tusker, known as Kasera Komban, was found dead in abandoned septic tank in Kerala Malappuram. The tusker used to be affectionately called "Kasera Komban" due to its remarkably long tusks, which...

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 Read about Kasera Komban in the Elephant Database

Sedgwick County Zoo announces stillborn delivery of elephant calf

2025-03-18 - Wichita, United States.

The Sedgwick County Zoo announced Monday that 29-year-old African elephant Simunye delivered a stillborn calf following a healthy, full-term pregnancy. This would have marked the first elephant born a...

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 Read about Malaika in the Elephant Database

 Read about Sedgwick County Zoo in the Elephant Database

New Elephant Calf "Gauri" Born In Assam’s Kaziranga National Park

2025-03-08 - Guwahati, India.

A female elephant calf took birth in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park. The newborn, named Gauri, is the offspring of an elephant named Phulmai, who resides within the protected area of Kaziranga.

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 Read about Gauri in the Elephant Database

 Read about Kaziranga unspecified elephant camp in the Elephant Database

TN: 60-year-old female elephant passes away in Trichy

2025-03-05 - Trichy, India.

A 60-year-old female elephant named Jaini, who was being cared for at the MR Palayam Government Elephant Rehabilitation Centre in Reserve Forest under the Trichy Forest Division, has passed away. The ...

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 Read about Jaini in the Elephant Database

 Read about M. R. Palayam Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (ERRC), in the Elephant Database

A Tribute to Paolo, Amboseli’s Iconic Elephant

2025-02-07 - Amboseli, Kenya.

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Paolo, one of Amboseli’s most famous and cherished elephants. At 46 years old, Paolo’s death marks the loss of a true giant, not only in size but ...

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 Read about Paolo in the Elephant Database

 Read about Amboseli National Park in the Elephant Database