Toni
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Smithsonian National Zoological Park Washington in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Toni
Toni was a small elephant, and at her peak weighed between 6,000 and 6,500 pounds. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

Identification

SSP nr	279

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 41 years old
Body weight:	2954.55 kg, 6500.00 lbs
Origin
Born:	* 1965
Birth place:
Death
Dead:	†2006-01-25
Death reason:	euthanised: arthritis
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Smithsonian National Zoological Park Washington, in United States

Date of arrival

1989-10-25	Smithsonian National Zoological Park Washington from Nay Aug Park Zoo

1971-00-00	Nay Aug Park Zoo from Blank Park Zoo

Record history
History of updates	2011-01-01: Previous locations, Weight, Text RE

Latest document update	2020-10-18 06:25:24
Google map

† Toni is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 2006-01-25 at Smithsonian National Zoological Park Washington, in United States, . Official death reason described as arthritis.

Origin

Toni was born 1965.

Comments / pictures

After the death of Princess in July 1971, Scranton held their final campaign to replace an elephant for the Nay Aug Park Zoo in Pennsylvania. Toni was purchased from the Children's Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa, where she had previously resided for several years.

Toni was tranferred to the National Zoo in October 1989 after the closing of the Nay Aug Park Zoo in Pennsylvania. Nay Aug Park Zoo officials originally planned to transfer Toni to Canada, but city residents persuaded to keep her in America. She, just as the other three elephants of the zoo in Scranton, had previously been kept as a single elephant in a concrete enclosure with a concrete yard. She had sustained a injury to her left front leg in 1975, a problem that eventually lead to her death in January 2006. She had previously been successfully treated for acute Kidney disease in 2001.

Records about Toni from Ryan Easleys Blog at http://showmeelephants.blogspot.com/
Toni, Asian female SB 279
1965 - Born Thailand
Oct 1966 - Blank Park Zoo, Des Moines, Iowa
1971 - Nay Aug Park Zoo, Scranton, Pennsylvania
25 Oct 1989 - Smithsonian National Zoo, Washington, D.C.
25 Jan 2006 - Death

Ryan Easley

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2026). Toni, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Smithsonian National Zoological Park Washington in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 19 January 2026 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=215. (archived at the Wayback machine)