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