Toto, 1979

Slide developed August 1979. This is one I took when we went on a rail holiday and stayed at the Great Northern. It may have been taken at the very end of July or the beginning of August. It was a red hot day at the zoo and I drank a lot of fizzy pop!

Toto looks quite a chubby individual! What was his/her fate?

Were Toto and Pole Pole the last elephants on the Casson before Geeta, Mya, Azizah and Thi arrived? And were they the last Africans that London held?

Panthera1981 said:

Toto looks quite a chubby individual! What was his/her fate?

Were Toto and Pole Pole the last elephants on the Casson before Geeta, Mya, Azizah and Thi arrived? And were they the last Africans that London held?

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The female African elephant ‘Toto’ arrived at London Zoo in 1962 and died in 1980.

‘Toto’ and ‘Pole Pole’ were the last two African elephants at London Zoo.

However, there were also two female Asiatic elephants around this time; ‘Lakshmi’ who arrived at the zoo in 1953 and ‘Anna’ who arrived at the zoo in 1970. ’Lakshmi’ was sent to Blijdorp (Rotterdam) Zoo in 1980 and Anna was also sent to Rotterdam the following year.

What, if any, reason was there for ZSL to drop Africans in favour of keeping Asian elephants? Husbandary issues?

I'd have thought the experience with Pole Pole would have been a big influence, but that is only a guess. I did read at the time the zoo did not want a similar situation to occur and was determined to be fully "hands-on" with any future elephants.

Toto,like Pole Pole did not live to a great age unfortunately.

Parrotsandrew said:

I did read at the time the zoo did not want a similar situation to occur and was determined to be fully "hands-on" with any future elephants.

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Which is why I think they went for the young Asians that would have been more readily available and could be worked with from a young age. That didn't stop later problems of course- a keeper's death, ThiHiWay becoming a problem animal for them, and then later still the whole concept of Elephants in such a confined space and not being bred from, resulting in the (sensible) decision to relocate them to Whipsnade, leaving an effectively defunct building.