Hiroshima: Community Supports to Ensure Elephant’s Safe Birth

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:10 JST, February 8, 2025

HIROSHIMA — An African forest elephant at Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima is the first of these endangered creatures to become pregnant in Japan, and the local community has stepped up efforts to ensure the calf has a safe arrival.

The elephant, named May, is expected to give birth sometime between August and October.

A small species of elephant found in locations including central Africa, these animals with oval-shaped ears are in danger of extinction for reasons such as poachers seeking their tusks. It is rare for the species to be kept at zoos. According to the park, there are two at Japanese zoos and one at an African zoo.

May came to the zoo from Burkina Faso in 2001. In 2022, the zoo partnered May with a male elephant called Dai who was on loan from Akiyoshidai Safari Land, a zoo in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The pregnancy was confirmed in August 2024.

This will be the first time May has given birth. May is estimated to be 26 years old, making her relatively old for an elephant to deliver a calf. Due to the risk of a stillbirth or miscarriage, the zoo sought donations through a crowdfunding website to purchase equipment such as heaters, scales and a video camera that can monitor May without placing additional stress on her.

The zoo has already collected donations exceeding the target of ¥24 million. The Hiroshima Toyo Carp, a local professional baseball team, has donated testing equipment to the zoo.