Photo 1, Bomba, Coco and Connie, Columbus Zoo, June 1995
Courtesy of M Easley
Courtesy of M Easley
Photo 2, Coco, Columbus Zoo, June 1995
Courtesy of M Easley
Courtesy of M Easley
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Father's Photographs - Columbus Zoo
The following photographs were taken at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio in June 1995. Pictured below are the zoo's herd of Asian elephants at the time - 22 year old Connie, 24 year old bull Coco and 25 year old Bomba. Two African elephants also resided at the zoo separate from the Asians.
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I eagerly anticipate associating with new individuals with an interest or history in elephants, elephant history and elephant record keeping. If you have further information regarding the animals or locations questioned in the article, please leave a comment or message me in an effort to complete their records for elephant historians.
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Very nice, Ryan, thanks for sharing. One bit of information regarding Bomba and her age estimate. When bomba arrived in 1977, we were told that she was 5 years old. We were fairly certain she was older than that, so when we asked, we were told that she could be as old as 7. She still felt she was probably much older! When she died in 1999, she was on her 5th set of molars on the top, and her 6th on the bottom, so she was clearly much older than the original estimate would have her at that point.
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ReplyDeleteThank you for the history lesson! Was Bomba part of a larger imported group of elephants? I would be interested to learn, if so, what became of the other elephants she arrived with and from where in Asia she originated.
Undortunately, we received absolutely no information on Bomba when she arrived, so I can't answer your question. Remember, it was 1977! She was acclimated to the presence of people, but she did not appear to know any verbal cues in English, so we were fairly certain she had not been in the States for any great length of time. However, guessing her age as roughly 30 when she arrived based on her molar progression in 1999, it would seem clear that she was not a recent import from Asia, at least not a recent capture, and it seems that there were few imports of camp elephants at that time. Our guess was that she came from someplace in Europe - just a guess, however. Her appearance was very distinct, and none of our professional visitors ever recognized her.
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