Are African forest elephants completely gone from zoos?

Indeed. “Congo” arrived at the Bronx Zoo on 28th July 1905. He was the type specimen of pumilio, now normally considered a synonym of cyclotis. Sadly, he was shot on 3rd November 1915.

Crandall also records a second “pygmy” elephant, the female “Tiny” who arrived at the Bronx Zoo on 6th December 1922 and died 2nd March 1933.

In addition Crandall also mentions two other forest elephants at Bronx Zoo, a male and a female, both arriving on 8th October 1946. The male “Zangelima” became dangerous and was destroyed on 11th November 1952. The female “Doruma” (known as “Pinky") was still living when Crandall wrote his book; according to the Elephant Database she died on 1st March 1970.

(NB All other dates are as per Crandall’s book; some of these differ slightly from the dates on the Elephant Database.)

 

There was a two-part article in International Zoo News some years ago listing all known captive specimens of cyclotis In North America and Europe. From memory, I think the articles were written by Don Cousins. If there's any interest I can dig these out and post the lists here.

 

Interestingly, the dates for “Congo”, I supplied earlier, which are as given in Crandall’s book, differ from those in the New York Zoo guidebooks.

According to Crandall, “Congo” arrived on 28th July 1905; the guidebooks for 1913 and 1938, both give the arrival date as 25th July 1905 (while the Elephant Database gives it as 28th June).

Similarly, Crandall gives the date of death of “Congo” as 3rd November 1915, but the 1938 guide states he died in July 1915 (the Elephant Database agrees with the date Crandall supplies).

 

I would be interested!!!

 

The African Forest Elephant and its Status in Captivity. Part 1: Europe
By Don Cousins
International Zoo News No. 251 (41/2) March 1994

[Any comments in square brackets are mine]

Versailles 1668-1681
? (female) from Angola

Hamburg 1882-1894
Jenny (female) from Gabon

Hamburg 1884-1891
? (?) from Gabon

Hamburg 1886-1887
? (male) from Gabon
Died on board ship

Berlin 1899-1907
? (male) from Cameroon
Type specimen of L. a. cyclotis

Hamburg 1900-?
Schari (male)
Circus animal

Antwerp 1903-?
? (?) from Zaire?

Hamburg 1905-
Congo (male) from Gabon
Sent to New York: made type specimen of 'pygmy' race L. a. pumilio

Berlin 1912-13.06.1919
Kribi (male) from Cameroon

Antwerp 1921-31.08.1935
Maria (female) from Zaire

Antwerp 1922-?
? (male) from Zaire
Still alive in 1929

London 26.10.1922-
Tiny (female) from Gabon
Sent to New York

Lisbon 1924-?
? (?) from Zaire

London 27.04.1925-25.08.1927
Oojah (female) from Cameroon

Berlin 1926-1935
Mampe (male) from Gabon

Hamburg 1926-
? (female) from Sudan
Sent to Cincinnati

London 11.08.1928-01.08.1929
Peter (male) from Sierra Leone
Died at Whipsnade [Sent to Whipsnade 30.07.1929 after his left humerus was broken by a Black Rhinoceros - this was two years before the park opened to the public]

Dusseldorf 1937-05.08.1943
Wroclaw 05.08.1943-1944/5
Caesar (male)

Antwerp 1938-?
? (?)

Antwerp Jun 1947-09.11.1949
? (female) from Zaire

Paris (Jardin des Plantes) 10.08.1947-30.06.1961
? (female)
Received from Antwerp

Naples 1950-16.04.1970
Barria (male) from Zaire?

Lisbon 06.06.1952-May 1976
? (male) from Angola

Antwerp 30.07.1952-30.07.1953
? (female) from Zaire
Destroyed

Antwerp 30.07.1952-23.04.1959
Jose (female) from Zaire

Paris (Vincennes) 28.05.1953-12.06.1961
? (male)

Rotterdam 05.10.1953-28.08.1956
Dombo (female) from Congo

Frankfurt 14.05.1954-11.05.1979
Dima (female) from Zaire

Duisburg 11.09.1961-18.08.1985
Ngbaya (female) from Zaire

Paris (Vincennes) 11.07.1963-
Philippe (male) from Sierra Leone
Still alive when the article was written [aka Coco - moved to Seville and died there in 2002]

Worms 1963/4-?
Timon (male)
Ghana (male)
Toga (male)
Dako (male)
Carl Althoff Circus

Rostock 08.09.1964-
Sara (female) from Chad?
Still alive [no longer considered to be a forest elephant?]

Paris (Vincennes) 30.06.1970-27.10.1972
Prague 27.10.1972-29.07.1976
Jumbo (male) from Gabon

Whipsnade 12.12.1972-18.12.1988
Jumbo (male) from Cameroon
Present from Cameroon Govt to H.M. the Queen. Destroyed
[Initially housed at Crystal Palace Children's Zoo and then London Zoo: moved to Whipsnade 23.08.1973]

Rome 20.11.1973-24.12.1976
Eroclino (male) from Gabon

Madrid 06.05.1980-11.01.1991
Aqueessa (female) from Gabon

Barcelona 21.05.1981-
Guba (female) from Gabon
Still alive when the article was written [died 07.02.1996]

Rome 04.11.1981-18.03.1991
Carla (female) from Gabon

 

The African Forest Elephant and its Status in Captivity. Part 2: North America
By Don Cousins
International Zoo News No. 261 (42/4) June 1995

New York 28.07.1905-03.11.1915
Congo (male) from Gabon
Destroyed

New York 06.12.1922-02.03.1933
Tiny (female) from Gabon

Philadelphia 04.04.1925-12.03.1943
Josephine (female) from Gabon

Cincinnati 18.09.1931-23.04.1954
Gimpy (female) from Gabon?

Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey (RBB) Apr 1936-Feb 1937
Congo (male) from Zaire

RBB Apr 1936-Nov 1941
Pourquois (female) from Zaire
Poisoned. Also known as Puqua.

Brookfield 09.09.1939-04.07.1943
Zombie (male) from Zaire
Destroyed.

Brookfield 09.09.1939-19.09.1944
Zombini (female) from Zaire
Destroyed.

New York 08.10.1946-11.11.1952
Zangelima (male) from Zaire
Destroyed

New York 08.10.1946-01.03.1970
Doruma (female) from Zaire
Also known as Pinky.

RBB 26.06.1947-13.05.1956
Abele (female) from Zaire
Also known as Emily.

Washington 12.10.1959-15.06.1976
Lion Country Safari, Florida 15.06.1976-28.09.1976
Dzimbo (male) from Zaire

Columbus 19.06.1972-10.11.1991
Bud (male) from Sierra Leone
Also known as Cosi.

 

Thanks so much robmv! I was hoping the animals from Japan would be on there, but it is all very interesting! I wonder why the zoo world basically let them die out from their collections.

 

Possibly this article was written before the forest elephants arrived in Japan? Or could be that they just were not widely known to Euro-American audience?

This article needs to be supplemented with the history of cyclotis in Japan (and other Asian zoos if there were any)....oh yeah, and African zoos too.

 

AFRICA!

S.O.S. Elephants of Chad orphanage:

-Chari (female) 2010-0/8/10

-Savu (female) 2010-present

Abidjan Zoo:

-Bozo (male) unknown-1993

-Can (male) captive born 1992-present
[Bozo & Azagny]

-Azagny (female) 1980-2000

-Kony (female) captive born 1988-2000
[Bozo & Tico]

-Tico (female) unknown-1997

-Taya (female) 1994-2000

JAPAN!

Yamaguchi Safariland

-Dai (male) unknown (2001?)-present
[born 1999]

-Mimi (female) unknown (2001?)-present
[born 1999]

Hiroshima Asa

-May (female) 2001-present
[born 1999]

Tokuyama Municipal

-Unknown (female) unknown (2001?)-present

 

I have a few books (with pictures) which mention forest elephants in zoos and I thought some people would find them interesting.

I took a few photos from the following books:

L to R: Elephants I'll Never forget by John Weatherhead
I Loved Rogues by George "Slim" Lewis and Byron Fish
Elefanten in Zoo und Circus: Dokumentation Teil 2: Nordamerika by European elephant group
Elefanten in Berlin by Bernhard Blaszkiewitz

Elephants I'll Never forget
Contains some information on the forest bull, "Jumbo", who was transferred from London Zoo to Whipsnade. He was described as very aggressive to people but very submissive to the lead Asian cow they had at the time.




I Loved Rogues
Has some description of the elephants at Brookfield Zoo including the two young forest calves "Zombie" and "Zombimie". This book has many, many interesting historical pictures of zoo and circus elephants notably large tusked Asian bulls.



continued on following post...

 

Elefanten in Zoo und Circus: Dokumentation Teil 2: Nordamerika
This book is also very interesting with many historical and recent pictures. A few forest elephants are featured as well.

Columbus Zoo bull "Bud"


African Lion Safari (Canada) bull "Samson".



Bronx Zoo's forest elephant "Congo" in 1905 then a few years later next to the Asian.

Elefanten in Berlin
Many, many photos of the elephants that inhabited Berlin Zoo, multiple forest elephants included.

"Mampe" 1927


"Jambo II" a very furry female cyclotis.

All these elephants look very typical cyclotis in appearance and are not as ambiguous as the Tokuyama Municipal Zoo cow.

 

Thank you so much for posting this! It is such a shame they aren't maintained largely in captivity like the other two species. Yes, I am skeptical about the tokuyama zoo elephant as well. So it would seem the only remaining forest elephants in captivity are in Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Abidjan, and the SOS elephants orphanage.

Thanks again for the pictures!

 

Fascinating thread. I'm especially intruiged by Jambo II.

 

Thanks Dallaspachyderm, I'm glad you liked the images.

Japanese elephants

The Tokuyama cow is around 30 years old now and originates from West Africa. She was classified as a forest elephant upon consultation with Ueno Zoo in the late 80's due to her smaller size and area she originated from. It is possible that she is a hybrid between a forest and bush, retaining more of the bush characteristics. There is another similar cow, "Nana", residing at the Asahiyama Zoo which is debatable as well. She was the subject of genetic study a few years ago due to her small size...though I do not know the outcome of this. Her features resemble more africana I'd say.


Deceased Okinawa bull, Asahiyama's "Nana", and bottom are of the Tokuyama cow "Mali".

Image source link: unfortunately saved this a while ago and don't have the original source

Others:

There are some other recent forest elephants listed on the site: Zoo Elephant - Asian Elephants at the Zoological Gardens of the World Looks like there are a few more zoos which currently hold living Loxodonta cyclotis.

Kuwait City Zoo


Image is from 2008. Looks to be 1.1 specimens located here.

Image souce link: http://asianelephant.net/loxodonta/kuwait/kuwait.htm#



Image source link: Management of Kuwait Zoo open to constructive criticism

Sousse Friguia Zoo in Tunisia

elehant.se list these as bush but they look very forest to me. This zoo has 1.2 specimens from Togo, West Africa.



Image source link: Elephants at Friguia Zoo | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
If you search Flickr: Friguia Zoo park elephant, a bunch of images show up of the elephants.

I also find this elephant to be very interesting. It is one of the most unique looking specimens I've ever seen. The first image here almost seems mastodon like, due to the posture, excessive hair growth and colouring....though not the ears.






Image source link: tiergarten.com - The online-shop of Schüling Buchkurier


A good resource worth checking out is this site.
Petra Prager – Elefanten-Fotolexikon
This well organized site list pictures of individual elephants held in zoos across the world. There are even images of deceased/living forest elephants. Many images of "Jambo II" and the Tunisia calves are listed here.

If others have images to share, I'd be interested to see.

 

The elephants from Tunisia actually look very well cared for! Potential breeding site just like Yamaguchi!

 

Very interesting posts and pictures, I agree about the 4 elephants in the beginning of this picture series; they look like bush elephants. I remember when I was a kid going to the Bronx Zoo and seeing Doruma (Pinky) who was a forest elephant and Sudana, who was a bush elephant. They were the first African elephants I had ever seen and Sudana looked like all the pictures of African elephants, while Doruma looked rather strange to me until I started researching forest elephants. It is such a pity that so many bull elephants, that had been kept in zoos, were killed. Zangelima, a male forest elephant who came to the Bronx with Doruma was shot in 1952. With more foresight they could have had both forest elephants live to a decent age....... I would love to see photos of old Bronx Zoo elephants.

 

Elephant.se's info on Gimpy plus another photo:

Gympy, an African Forest elephant at Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

 

Wow, Gimpy was a pretty forest elephant. I wish the book on Elephants in North American Zoos and Circuses was printed in English. It is only printed in German. I saw it at the Library of the Bronx zoo and it has such interesting information and pictures, but I can't read German. I imagine that this elephant, Gimpy, along with almost every one in zoo history is in that book.

 

the Forest elephant in Abidjan zoo is a female, for some reason many websites say it is a Male. 20 years old captive born. we are moving her to a fantastic new enclosure early next year

 

I thought her head was oddly narrow for a 20 year old bull.
particularly in the image provided on elephant.se Abidjan Zoo in Ivory Coast
what is the new enclosure like? (size, features, etc)
Are there plans to bring in new animals for companionship/breeding?