World Record Holder: Safari Celebrates Yossi the Elephant's 52nd Birthday
World Elephant Day was marked today around the world: at the Safari in Ramat Gan, they celebrated the 52nd birthday of Yossi, the largest elephant in zoos worldwide, and at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, the elephants took advantage of the heavy heat for long hours in the pools.
At the Safari in Ramat Gan, they celebrated World Elephant Day with Yossi — the largest elephant in all the zoos in the world, who also celebrated his 52nd birthday. Yossi weighs about seven tons and his height is over 3.80 meters. At the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, four elephants live today: the female elephants Tamar, Susan, Michaela, and the elephant Teddy. Against the backdrop of the heavy heat, on International Elephant Day, the female elephants splashed for long hours in the cool water pools built for them.
World Elephant Day is marked annually on August 12, with the goal of raising awareness about the situation of elephants in Africa and the world, fighting illegal hunting and the ivory trade, and ensuring the preservation of the habitats of African and Asian elephants.
At the Safari, they wished the big friend a happy birthday and explained the situation of elephants today:
"Happy birthday morning to Yossi. If you happened to visit the Safari, there is no chance you missed Yossi. With a massive weight of about 7 tons and a height of over 3.8 meters, Yossi is not just a local star — he is a world record holder, and the largest elephant in all the zoos in the world!"
"Yossi's exceptional dimensions are the result of a combination of family genetics, and of course his age. Unlike most mammals, male elephants continue to grow throughout almost their entire lives, and when an elephant manages to reach the age of 52, this is what happens! The timing of Yossi's birthday is perfect, because just the next day we mark International Elephant Day. This is an excellent opportunity to look at Yossi and understand what is happening to his relatives in the wild.
We would expect that in the wild we would see more giants like Yossi, right? Well, in practice it seems that the exact opposite is happening: African elephants in the wild are becoming smaller.
Why is this happening? Illegal hunters are always focused on the largest and oldest elephants — those with the most impressive tusks. When these individuals are hunted before they manage to reproduce, and in general the older individuals disappear from the area, the population in the wild becomes composed mainly of younger and smaller individuals. Our Yossi lives in an environment safe from hunting, and illustrates the full natural potential of the African elephant."
