Latest news about elephants from 1

Seattle zoo transfers ownership of elephants to other zoos

2015-11-16 - Seattle, United States.

Seattle´s Woodland Park Zoo has transferred ownership of its Asian elephants to zoos in Oklahoma City and St. Louis, where the animals are now living.
Female elephants Bamboo and Chai were moved to Oklahoma City Zoo this past May when the zoo closed its elephant exhibit. Another female Asian elephant, Sri (SEE) has been living at the Saint Louis Zoo since 2002.

medical

Zoos clash with sanctuaries over treatment of elephant TB

2015-04-11 - Seattle, United States.

The countryâ€™s two elephant sanctuaries have, indeed, taken in several animals with confirmed or suspected cases of the disease. When officials at Woodland Park Zoo decided to send Seattleâ€™s aging females, Chai and Bamboo, to the Oklahoma City Zoo instead of a sanctuary, TB was one of the reasons cited. But TB is by no means exclusive to sanctuaries. Three males at Oregon Zoo in Portland were recently diagnosed in quick succession, and six staff members tested positive for exposure.

misc

Federal judge refuses to block Seattle elephants" transfer from one zoo to another

2015-04-09 - Seattle, United States.

A federal judge on Tuesday criticized conditions for elephants at both the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and the Oklahoma City Zoo but refused to block the transfer of two aging Seattle elephants to Oklahoma. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled" that the Oklahoma zoo won´t be able to offer Chai and Bamboo "the climate nor nearly the amount of space that independent experts have said is necessary for their well-being," The Seattle Times reported (http://i...

relocation

Bamboo, a 48-year-old Asain Elephant who has lived most of her like at Woodland Park Zoo. The zoo is preparing her and the other Asain Elephant, Chai, for a move to Oklahoma City Zoo.

Preparing To Move The Woodland Park Zoo Elephants to Oklahoma City Zoo.

2015-04-09 - Seattle, United States. JENNIFER WING

Woodland Park Zoo is actively preparing its two Asian Elephants, Chai and Bamboo, to make the journey to Oklahoma City Zoo. Nancy Hawkes, the zooâ€™s Curator, says it involves months of planning. â€œAnything to do with elephants takes time.â€ Two custom made crates were built for Chai and Bamboo. In February, one was put in their yard so they could get use to it. Keepers stood nearby with watermelons and honeydews to lure them in.

fossil

Fragile Seattle mammoth tusk must dry out before DNA is tested (with photos)

2014-02-27 - Seattle, United States.

The fossilized mammoth tusk discovered at a Seattle construction site will reveal its age, gender and life story, but probably not for another year, because that´s how long it will take scientists to dry out the water-logged and fragile tusk, officials at the Burke Museum said Wednesday.

zoo

Op-ed: Zoos play a vital role protecting wild elephants and their habitat

2012-12-09 - Seattle, United States.

Communicating the very serious threat to elephants in the wild â€” and working to save them â€” are the most important reasons to have elephants in zoos, write two members of the Woodland Park Zoo board of directors. Seeing, hearing and smelling elephants can spark a very personal, emotional connection that inspires people to help elephants in the wild.

zoo

Statement on Elephant Care at Woodland Park Zoo

2012-12-04 - Seattle, United States. Woodland Park Zoo

Recently, the Seattle Times published a two-part series on elephants in zoos. Woodland Park Zooâ€™s approach to elephant care and our attempt to help perpetuate the species by inseminating Chai, one of our Asian elephants, was highlighted in what we believe was a very biased and inaccurate slant. We would like to provide you with information that was not included in the series of stories.

fossil

In August 1977, Carl Gustafson inspects a mastodon bone embedded with what turned out to be the point of a spear fashioned from another mastodon bone. The use of new technology such as DNA sequencing has confirmed the find of the now retired WSU professo

WSU prof was right: Mastodon weapon was older than thought, scientists say

2011-10-31 - Seattle, United States.

For years, scientists dismissed Carl Gustafson´s claims that a pierced mastodon bone found in Sequim in 1977 was evidence that humans were hunting large mammals in North America 13,800 years ago. For almost 35 years, his find was ridiculed or ignored, the site dismissed as curious but not significant. New tests now show he was right.

birth

Chai undergoes an artificial insemination procedure.

Zoo artificially inseminates elephant, hopes baby is on the way

2011-03-16 - Seattle, United States.

The Woodland Park Zoo is hoping it will be able to ring in 2013 with a brand new baby elephant after artificially inseminating its 32-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, over the weekend. "Chai is very healthy and in excellent condition for pregnancy," Bruce Upchurch, curator of behavioral managment and elephants, said in a Woodland Park Zoo press release. "Our fingers are crossed that she has conceived."

medical

Woodland Park elephant, Watoto, loses tusk

2010-09-26 - Seattle, United States.

A 41-year-old African elephant lost her tusk at the Woodland Park Zoo Tuesday after getting excited when keepers were moving hay feeders. Watoto got her tusk stuck in a nearby restraint device and was able to dislodge it, but about 10 minutes later, the tusk fell out. Gigi Allianic, a spokeswoman for the zoo, said the elephant is doing fine and is expected to recover normally.

research

Elephant poaching: Long negative effects

2009-01-22 - Seattle, United States.

A U.S. study shows the negative effects of African elephant poaching persist for decades after the killings. Kathleen Gobush, a research ecologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who led the study, said African elephants rely heavily on matriarchs to lead groups and keep families together. Before the 1989 ban on ivory trade, nearly 75 percent of all elephants in Tanzania's Mikumi National Park were killed, many of them females with large tusks.

death

Chai, a female Asian elephant, at the Woodland Park Zoo

Seattle zoo elephant Chai miscarries. The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle says an elephant that had been artificially inseminated has miscarried.

2008-08-08 - Seattle, United States.

The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle says an elephant that had been artificially inseminated has miscarried. The zoo says it's monitoring the 29-year-old Asian elephant Chai around the clock after Thursday's miscarriage, but she's eating and behaving normally. One of three elephants at the zoo, Chai had been inseminated in January with semen from an elephant named Sneezy at the zoo in Tulsa, Okla.

poaching

Large elephant pops. gone by 2020, UW says

2008-07-31 - Seattle, United States. Lisa Stiffler

The number of poached elephants is on the rise and could lead to the extinction of large populations of African elephants in a scant 12 years, according to new research from the University of Washington. Said Sam Wasser, a UW biology professor, in a press release: "If the trend continues, there won't be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them."Wasser is a master of DNA extraction from difficult sources such as ivory and various animal scat. Through his rese...

birth

Seattle zoo elephant may be pregnant

2008-06-20 - Seattle, United States.

An elephant at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle may be pregnant. The zoo says it won't know for sure until an ultrasound scheduled this fall. The elephant, named Chai (chy) was artificially inseminated in January. The father is an elephant named Sneezy at the zoo in Tulsa, Okla. It all goes as planned the baby would be born by Thanksgiving of 2009. Some animal rights activists are worried about the health risks. The group Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants says it's unethical to breed Chai b...

welfare

Protest marks year since baby elephant"s death

2008-06-08 - Seattle, United States.

Wind, rain and bitter cold could not keep five determined women from sending their message to Woodland Park Zoo: An elephant never forgets. Bruce Bohmke, the deputy director of the zoo, disagreed. "They are not aware of the facts, or not using the facts accurately," he said. "About a month and a half ago, we met with these women and told them all about herpes, and that you can't pass herpes through artificial insemination, but that's not what they're saying today."Instead, Bohmke said that depri...

book

Hansa taught humans about life

2008-05-14 - Seattle, United States. CLARE HODGSON

A year after Hansa's death, we are still grieving the loss of our beloved baby elephant. From the moment she was born in November 2000, Hansa was a hit, doubling attendance at the Woodland Park Zoo. People were captivated by her toddler-like behavior, running around the elephant barn, trying to fit her whole body into a small plastic tub and dribbling her blue ball like a budding soccer star. What a joyful escape from our busy lives to watch the portly little pachyderm having so much fun.

medical

R&R for an ailing African elephant at zoo. Watoto has colic; barn closed for peace and quiet

2008-05-05 - Seattle, United States. KATHY MULADY

A sick elephant at Woodland Park Zoo has prompted her keepers to close the elephant barn temporarily to give the recuperating animal some peace and quiet. Watoto, a 39-year-old African elephant, apparently has colic, but is on medication and responding well, a spokeswoman for the zoo said. The elephant's appetite and activity level are returning to normal. Two other elephants, Chai and Bamboo, are still making their usual appearances in the yard. Chai, who is close to Watoto, is allowed to retur...

welfare

Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant, died in June at Woodland Park Zoo from a previously unidentified strain of herpes virus.

Federal inquiry sought into zoo elephant"s death. Animal rights activists want breeding program halted

2008-02-12 - Seattle, United States. HECTOR CASTRO

A group opposed to the elephant-breeding program at Woodland Park Zoo has asked the federal government to investigate the death of Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant who died in June. The elephant died from a previously unidentified strain of herpes virus, and it remains a mystery how the virus was transmitted. In a letter sent Monday to the Agriculture Department, the Northwest Animal Rights Network asked the agency to investigate the death and order the zoo to freeze its elephant-breeding prog...

medical

(Left to right): Elephant keeper Pat Maluy, Dr. Scotti Charmasson, elephant keeper Steve Cremer (kneeling), Dr. Dennis Schmitt and Woodland Park Zoo veterinarian Dr. John Ochsenreiter

Woodland Park Zoos elephant artificially inseminated

2008-01-08 - Seattle, United States.

Comforted by buckets of fresh cantaloupe, apples and carrots, the Woodland Park Zoo's 29-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, was artificially inseminated over the weekend. Zoo officials said they performed the 20-minute procedure with the help of a leading expert in elephant reproductive physiology, Dr. Dennis Schmitt, professor of animal science at Missouri State University. The sperm donor was a 36-year-old bull at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma.

medical

Woodland Park Zoo elephant inseminated

2008-01-07 - Seattle, United States.

welfare

Head zookeeper Colleen Stalf keeps one of Niabi Zoo

Animal rights group turns against Niabi Zoo

2007-12-05 - Seattle, United States. Amy Rausch

An animal rights group criticized U.S. zoos for breeding and transferring Asian elephants despite the known risks of a deadly virus, but a local zoo official said facilities are handling the risk appropriately. In Defense of Animals distributed its report Tuesday and claimed U.S. zoos are putting Asian elephants at risk for spreading Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus. This weekend, a young Asian elephant died from the virus at a Missouri zoo.

abstract

Isolation of DNA from small amounts of elephant ivory

2007-09-15 - Seattle, United States. Mailand C, Wasser SK. University of Washington

This protocol describes a method for the extraction of DNA from elephant ivory. These techniques are being used to assign geographic origin to poached ivory by comparing the ivory genotype to a geographic-based gene frequency map, developed separately. The method has three components: ivory pulverization, decalcification and DNA extraction. Pulverization occurs in a freezer mill while the sample is deep frozen in liquid nitrogen, preventing degradation of DNA during the process. Decalcification ...

people

Samuel Wasser has helped to track down the source of many ivory hauls.

Samuel Wasser, The tusk detective

2007-07-05 - Seattle, United States. Emma Marris, Nature

Samuel Wasser is a conservation biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, and an outspoken opponent of elephant poaching. He talks to Emma Marris about his genetic methods for tracing poached ivory. The secret is to pulverize the ivory without heating it up, which denatures the DNA. We use a freezer mill. It submerges a tube containing a small piece of ivory and a magnet into liquid nitrogen. This freezes the ivory and makes it brittle. We rapidly switch the magnetic field back and f...

death

Herpes Kills Seattle Zoo Elephant. 6-Year-Old Elephant Hansa Died Last Month

2007-07-03 - Seattle, United States.

A previously unknown elephant herpes virus killed the Woodland Park Zoo's youngest Asian elephant in Seattle. Hansa, 6, who died last month, was one of 12 elephants fathered by a bull at a zoo in Missouri. Three of the others exhibited herpes symptoms in the past decade. Two of them died, while the third, Chandra, was successfully treated in 1997.

death

Tests provide no clear answer why Seattle elephant Hansa died

2007-06-22 - Seattle, United States.

Test results have eliminated some possible causes for the death of Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, but officials said Friday they still don't know the reason she died. Scientists in Washington and across the country have been studying tissue, organ and blood samples to discover why Hansa died June 8 after reduced activity and appetite. Conclusive results could take a few more weeks, the zoo said in a news release.

zoo

Hansa lived as a celebrated occupant of the Woodland Park Zoo until she died unexpectedly. Elephants die in the wild at a rate of 100 per day.

When you stand up for zoos you stand up for elephants

2007-06-15 - Seattle, United States. William Foster and James McGraw

When an elephant roams free, it gets shot; not just its tusks, but its whole face gets cut off to supply the illicit ivory trade; its feet are removed and made into ashtrays; its flesh is smoked and sold at market as a delicacy. Elephants are dying in the wild at the rate of 100 every day. What does the loss of one elephant in Seattle, Hansa, have to do with the wild elephants? Everything, because Woodland Park Zoo and accredited zoos everywhere are making the life of every elephant count in sup...

death

Hansa, beloved elephant at Woodland Park zoo, dies suddenly

2007-06-08 - Seattle, United States.

Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant who delighted visitors to the Woodland Park Zoo, was found dead Friday, about a week after she began displaying colic-like symptoms, the zoo said Friday. Hansa was born in 2000 after another of the zoo's elephants, Chai, was sent to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri, where natural breeding resulted in a pregnancy. Hansa was the first elephant born at the 100-year-old Woodland Park Zoo, which has no male elephants.

birth

German scientists return to inseminate Seattle zoo elephant Chai

2007-03-14 - SEATTLE, United States.

Once again, two German scientists have artificially inseminated a Woodland Park Zoo elephant in hopes of producing a second offspring from Chai, now 28. It's the fourth time over the past two years that Chai, an Asian elephant, has undergone insemination. She became pregnant last year, but lost the pregnancy at an early stage, the zoo said. The sperm sample used Tuesday night was collected from Rex, a 39-year-old bull elephant at African Lion Safari, in Cambridge, Ontario. He has sired three off...

abstract

Using DNA to track the origin of the largest ivory seizure since the 1989 trade ban.

2007-03-06 - Seattle, United States. Wasser SK, Mailand C, Booth R, Mutayoba B, Kisamo E, Clark B, Stephens M. University of Washington,

We extend an innovative DNA assignment method to determine the geographic origin(s) of large elephant ivory seizures. A Voronoi tessellation method is used that utilizes genetic similarities across tusks to simultaneously infer the origin of multiple samples that could have one or more common origin(s).

book

Larson is drawn to the wild side

2006-11-22 - SEATTLE, United States.

For the first time in four years Gary Larson is releasing a page-a-day calendar of some of his greatest hits, in stores now. All his earnings from the 3 million calendars printed, about $2 million according to publisher Andrews McMeel, will go to Conservation International for the organization's work to help end the illegal trade in Asian elephants, Indochinese tigers, Asiatic black bears, pangolins, freshwater turtles, and Siamese crocodiles in Cambodia.

people

OHSU researcher, biochemist Rasmussen dies at 67. Elephant advocate - L.E.L. "Bets" Rasmussen discovered how pachyderms use secretions to communicate

2006-09-20 - Seattle, United States. RICHARD L. HILL

L.E.L. "Bets" Rasmussen, an Oregon biochemist renowned for her discoveries of how elephants chemically communicate, died Sunday in a Seattle hospital. She was 67. Rasmussen, a research professor with the OGI School of Science and Engineering at OHSU, was being treated for myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder. She was diagnosed with the disease in January.

welfare

Judge dismisses suit about Woodland Park Zoo elephants

2006-09-20 - Seattle, United States.

King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector dismissed a lawsuit Monday brought by local animal-rights activists against Woodland Park Zoo and the city of Seattle. The Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN) and two private citizens sued in June, accusing the zoo of violating the federal Endangered Species Act and the State Environmental Policy Act with its treatment of elephants at the zoo.

birth

Elephant baby proofing the Dickerson Park Zoo. Elephant keepers work to make the elephant enclosure safe for the curious new calf.

2006-08-14 - Seattle, United States. Mike Penprase

As visitors to Dickerson Park Zoo watch an infant elephant darting in and out of a forest of looming adult elephant legs, they may not notice the baby proofing going on at the zoo's elephant exhibit. Head keeper Jeff Glazier and other zoo employees have been busy making sure the baby pachyderm, temporarily named "Calf," stays safe and secure. Elephant keepers are just thinking ahead, something that has to be done with the zoo's largest animals, also among its smartest, Glazier said.

welfare

Asian elephant Bamboo at Woodland Park Zoo

Don"t be bamboozled by anti-zoo animal rights activists

2006-07-21 - Seattle, United States. Mike Keele and Nancy Hawkes

Bamboo and the other elephants at Woodland Park Zoo are healthy and thriving, and people should come see for themselves. The Northwest Animal Rights Network is simply wrong about what is best for Bamboo. What Bamboo does need is expert care, which she gets. She also needs daily, frequent interaction with humans, because she is highly bonded to people.

welfare

Protesters push for retirement in Bamboos "golden years" Animal rights activists target zoo fundraiser

2006-07-15 - Seattle, United States. MARY ANDOM

About 80 animal rights activists and community members protested outside a Woodland Park Zoo fundraiser Friday, asking that the 39-year-old Asian elephant Bamboo be moved to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. Protesters young and old stood at the north entrance of the zoo, passing out fliers to donors, holding signs and chanting, "Tell the zoo, to free Bamboo."

welfare

Big draw, big controversy: Bamboo"s life at the zoo

2006-07-13 - Seattle, United States. Anne Kim

The asian elephant Bamboo has become the focus of one of the most heated and bitterly debated controversies the Woodland Park Zoo has seen in years. What started as a citizens note of concern has escalated into a letter-writing campaign, public rallies and even a lawsuit accusing the Seattle zoo of harming an endangered species. Zoo officials say the critics are uninformed and using Bamboo as a pawn in a larger debate over whether zoos should keep elephants at all.

welfare

Woodland Park Zoo defends its care of Bamboo - Group wants elephant moved to sanctuary in Tenn.

2006-06-24 - Seattle, United States. KATHY MULADY

Woodland Park Zoo officials "vigorously dispute" claims that they are not providing sufficient care for Bamboo, a 39-year-old Asian elephant who grew up at the zoo, was transferred to Tacoma last summer and returned to Seattle this month. Lawyers for Woodland Park Zoo announced Friday that they have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an animal rights group that claims the elephant should be placed elsewhere.

welfare

Woodland Park Zoo MEDIA STATEMENT REGARDING ASIAN ELEPHANT BAMBOO

2006-06-23 - Seattle, United States.

Today, attorneys for Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) filed a Motion to Dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a local animal rights group, Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN), and two private citizens. In its lawsuit, NARN is attempting to force transfer of the zoo’s Asian elephant Bamboo

relocation

Asian Elephant Bamboo returns to Woodland Park Zoo

2006-06-12 - SEATTLE, United States.

A female Asian elephant, Bamboo, returned yesterday to the 92-acre Woodland Park Zoo. The 39-year-old elephant was transported from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash. in an air conditioned vehicle driven by one of the nation’s most highly regarded animal movers. Zoo veterinarians and zookeepers accompanied her on the short trip to Seattle.

facility

Woodland Park Zoo Elephants: Space case

2006-05-17 - Seattle, United States.

Seattle's elephants receive great care, but that's not enough. They deserve more space. A controversy over the future of one of the zoo's elephants, Bamboo, provides a window into the questions Seattle's political leadership needs to face at Woodland Park Zoo. Amid a host of zoo changes, city government has paid far too little attention to how well the planet's largest land animals may fit there for the long term. In the 1980s (with help from a Seattle P-I campaign), the zoo built a new elephant...

facility

The Elephant Turf War - Humans are rushing to the aid of captive pachyderms, and Woodland Park Zoo is in the path of the stampede.

2006-02-22 - Seattle, United States. Marisa McQuilken

In 1990, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association deemed Woodland Park Zoo's elephant forest "best new exhibit." Today, Seattle's seemingly plush pachyderm quarters have garnered a much different title. The animal-rights organization In Defense of Animals has named Woodland Park Zoo one of the country's 10 worst for elephants.

event

Jazz musician Kenny G and actor Pierce Brosnan and at charity benefit for Save the Elephants in Seattle

Intimate Valentine"s dinner for the Save the Elephants

2006-02-14 - Seattle, United States. Njoki Kibanya

On 14th February 2006, Jazz musician Kenny G & actor Pierce Brosnan came together and held a "Save the Elephants" Valentine's Day benefit whose proceeds went to the Save the Elephants Trust. Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Founder, Save the Elephants attended the benefit and said it was "just sensational".

research

Getting Elephants Pregnant is Tough

2005-09-20 - SEATTLE, United States.

Woodland Park Zoo officials hope that this time, the stork comes for the elephant. An ultrasound taken Sunday morning revealed that Woodland Park Zoo's 26-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, is ovulating, prompting scientists to try once again to inseminate her artificially. Fresh bull elephant semen was rushed to Seattle from the Oregon Zoo in Portland and the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma on Sunday, and the tricky business was performed that evening.

research

Scientists try once more to inseminate Woodland Park Zoo elephant

2005-09-18 - SEATTLE, United States.

An ultrasound taken Sunday morning revealed that Woodland Park Zoo's 26-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, is ovulating, prompting two German scientists to try once again to inseminate her artificially. The scientists, Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt and Dr. Frank Goeritz, last tried to inseminate Chai in March. Zoo officials had to wait until June to learn that the procedure hadn't worked, and this is Chai's next cycle, said zoo spokeswoman Gigi Allianic. Elephants ovulate just three times a year.

relocation

Bamboo should be sent to a place where she can heal

2005-09-09 - Seattle, United States. David Hancocks

Usually, zoos seek publicity for major events, such as the arrival of a new elephant. But late last month, an Asian elephant named Bamboo was transported without fanfare from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. It was a sad final chapter in a tragic story. The history of elephants in zoos is full of mental and physical pain. Wild elephants, astonishingly intelligent, perceptive and complex beings, live in caring and secure extended families that stay intact for life. But...

research

Inseminating elephant takes 2 Germans, an ultrasound and a very long wait

2005-03-02 - Seattle, United States. TOM PAULSON

It is no small feat to artificially impregnate an elephant. The basics of artificial insemination may be routine, but a glance into the elephant house at the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday evening should have been enough to convince anyone that this super-sized branch of animal husbandry poses some uniquely huge problems. The object of this attention is Chai, the zoo's 26-year-old Asian elephant. She is already a mother, having given birth to Hansa, now 4, by natural means. But this required the st...

zoo

Seattle zoo tries to inseminate elephant

2005-03-02 - SEATTLE, United States.

A ticklish business, artificially inseminating an elephant. With the help of high-tech ultrasound and computer gear, special protective clothing, wheelbarrows and not a little cooperation from Chai, a 26-year-old Asian elephant, Woodland Park Zoo officials hope the complicated process led by two German scientists will result in the pachyderm giving again birth, as she did four years ago.

Chai got pregnant by natural means last time around, but it wasn't all candy and flowers. She ...

relocation

Woodland Park Zoo elephant heads to Tacoma

2005-01-15 - Seattle, United States.

Bamboo, a 38-year-old elephant with no close friends at Woodland Park Zoo and a limited tolerance for the high jinks of baby Hansa, is packing her trunk and heading for the zoo in Tacoma, which welcomes prickly pachyderms.

The 4-ton Bamboo, an Asian elephant, was born in the wild in Thailand. She has lived in Seattle since she was a year old. "She'd never been exposed to a calf" and has not done well with 4-year-old Hansa, daughter of 26-year-old Asian elephant Chai, Woodland Park...

research

Samuel Wasser, with a tusk from a forest elephant, is able to extract DNA from anywhere along the tusk. He is developing a DNA map of elephants based on dung. Matching up the DNA, he can pinpoint the source of the ivory.

Using DNA to stop elephant poachers. UW researcher can trace ivory to its original region

2004-09-28 - SEATTLE, United States. CAROL SMITH

It's like doing cold-case detective work on elephants, but University of Washington scientist Samuel Wasser has devised an innovative method for pinpointing the DNA fingerprints of poached elephant tusks. The method, reported yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could give conservationists their most powerful tool yet in the battle to hunt down the poachers who are decimating the African elephant population.

birth

Chai with newborn elephant baby in Woodland Park Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo is celebrating its first-ever elephant birth.

2000-11-03 - Seattle, United States. Woodland Park Zoo- PRESS RELEASE

The mother, 21-year-old Asian elephant Chai, gave birth today on November 3, to a female calf. The newborn elephant weighs 235 pounds. In September 1998, the zoo sent Chai on a breeding loan to Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri. Her intended mate, Onyx, a 36-year-old Asian bull (male elephant), sired the calf.

medical

Tuberculosis emerges as new threat to elephants

2000-10-31 - Seattle, United States. Nina Pellegrini, The Seattle Times

Human tuberculosis, one of the leading infectious diseases in the world, has emerged as a threat to North America's aging Asian elephants, a species that already is inching toward extinction because of its increasing proximity to humans.

Researchers think the animals - most of them born in the wild - were exposed in their homelands or while in close contact with infected handlers in zoos and circuses in North America.

birth

Pregnant asian elephant Chai in Woodland park Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo and Puget Sound Blood Center team up to prepare for elephant birth

2000-09-25 - SEATTLE, United States. Woodland Park Zoo- PRESS RELEASE

The Puget Sound Blood Center joined Woodland Park Zoo today to draw the final of 15 units of blood from the zoos pregnant Asian elephant, 21-year-old Chai. The first-time expectant mother is due to give birth late October. The milestone event will mark the first-ever elephant birth for Woodland Park in its 100-year history and also the first in all of Washington state.

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

facility

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

poaching

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

death

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

birth

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

death

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

death

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

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