Animals Evolved

San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park oldest elephant Sunita was euthanized on February 25 morning.  The 60-year-old female Asian elephant came to the zoo in 1974.  It was affected by aging problems.  It also had fast-moving infection.  Sunita refused to eat for days as she had a broken tooth.  A necropsy will be done to determine the problems led to the death of Sunita.  Currently the zoo had four Asian elephants and 11 African elephants.  The elephants were brought to see Sunita before she passed away.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Researchers used a new dung piles counting method to estimate the population of endangered Asian elephant in the Malaysia’s biggest national park, Taman Negara National Park in Pahang.  New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society and Malaysia Department of Wildlife and National Parks estimated that there are 631 endangered elephant in the park according to the dung piles counted in 2006 and 2007.  The national park is a 4,343 square kilometers protected rain forest jungle, and it is called “Green Heart” by Malaysian.

Source: The Associated Press