Largest Elephants Currently In Captivity

Sarus Crane

Sarus Crane

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Since a number bulls and cows of both African & Asian Elephants have passed away over the last decade I thought it would be a good idea to update who currently holds the record for largest elephants (of both sexes) in captivity across the globe. The last time I checked Zoochat there was a debate at least 10 years ago which ended up being that either Boy (Kiev Zoo) or Radza (of Zoo Emmen) was the largest Asian bull and that Chico was the largest African bull. I want to expand it for both species and sexes. The categories will be:

1) Heaviest Asian bull
2) Heaviest Asian cow
3) Tallest Asian bull
4) Tallest Asian cow
5) Heaviest African bull
6) Heaviest African cow
7) Tallest African bull
8) Tallest African cow

NOTE: Elephants at the time of this thread must still be alive and there will be no distinction between subspecies (Sri Lankan vs Indian vs Sumatran) etc...
Ok, lets find out who will win each of the categories!
 
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I haven't a clue as who could be it. My guess for Africans the US is that Willy in Cleveland is still the tallest while Tonka in Knoxville still might be the heaviest. I would also guess that for Asians in the US, Bodhi in Denver may be the tallest while Hank at Columbus is the heaviest. I have no idea on cow stats but I know for a fact that both Africans Thandi and Sheena in Jacksonville are really short.
 
Yu Zin is the heaviest female Asian elephant in Europe, and Dumbo who sadly died last year was the tallest female Asian elephant in Europe
 
Sarus Crane said:
Where did Dumbo live? I found that Yu Zin is at Woburn Safari Park.
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Dumbo lived at Zoo Planckendael and passed away in May 2020 at the rather young age of 48.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/112389/elephant-dies-at-zoo-planckendael

Thank you for creating this thread. I'm very interested to find out who wins all of these categories! I think another interesting category could be who has the largest tusks, even though it doesn't have to do with the actual size of the elephant. There are some very impressive "tuskers" out there like Billy, Dahlip, Spike, Mekong, Tonga, etc.
 
Hyak_II said:
I think the fattest Bull in the US (and almost certainly Europe as well) would be Smokey at two tails ranch. That big tub of lard weighs in excess of 18000 pounds!!!
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I will try to see if I can get back to Two Tails Ranch to visit him over the break. Based on photos of him with Zerbini's group especially next to Luke he looks at least 6" taller. I think like Luke he's castrated.
 
Sarus Crane said:
Where did Dumbo live? I found that Yu Zin is at Woburn Safari Park.
Click to expand...
Sarus Crane said:
I will try to see if I can get back to Two Tails Ranch to visit him over the break. Based on photos of him with Zerbini's group especially next to Luke he looks at least 6" taller. I think like Luke he's castrated.
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Luke like many of Vance's sons is indeed castrated, out of all of Vance's sons his half brother Hank is the only one who is not castrated
 
Hyak_II said:
I think the fattest Bull in the US (and almost certainly Europe as well) would be Smokey at two tails ranch. That big tub of lard weighs in excess of 18000 pounds!!!
Click to expand...
Mala and Vance sure produce some massive bulls in terms of weight with Hank at 15,00o pounds and Smokey at 18,000 pounds
 
18,000 pounds?! I don’t think that’s a healthy weight at all. Even Hank was/still is considered overweight and he weighs roughly 3,000 pounds less than his brother.
 
Vance weighs seven tons

"Imposing even at a distance is Vance, seven tons, his ears spread wide, his head high. Most males are too aggressive for the road, but Vance is valuable to Ringling." Source
 
Packy weighed 14,000 pounds in his prime and stood 3.7 meters and another Oregon zoo bull Tusko weighed 13,000 pounds
 
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Sarus Crane said:
Since a number bulls and cows of both African & Asian Elephants have passed away over the last decade I thought it would be a good idea to update who currently holds the record for largest elephants (of both sexes) in captivity across the globe. The last time I checked Zoochat there was a debate at least 10 years ago which ended up being that either Boy (Kiev Zoo) or Radza (of Zoo Emmen) was the largest Asian bull and that Chico was the largest African bull. I want to expand it for both species and sexes. The categories will be:

1) Heaviest Asian bull
2) Heaviest Asian cow
3) Tallest Asian bull
4) Tallest Asian cow
5) Heaviest African bull
6) Heaviest African cow
7) Tallest African bull
8) Tallest African cow

NOTE: Elephants at the time of this thread must still be alive and there will be no distinction between subspecies (Sri Lankan vs Indian vs Sumatran) etc...
Ok, lets find out who will win each of the categories!
Click to expand...
Schottzie at the Cincinnati Zoo is the largest asian elephant cow in North America.
 
Ellie at the St. Louis Zoo and Targa at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo are some of the tallest female Asian elephants in North America
 
@Mr.Ivory you realize you can post all of this in one post right. There’s no need to make tons of posts of little bits of info when you can just post one that’s a bit larger.
 
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