Sunda
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Topeka Zoo in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Sunda


Identification

EEP nr	6216
SSP nr	238

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 56 years old
Origin
Born:	* 1962 wild
Birth place:	in Asia unspecified location
Death
Dead:	†2018-09-12
Death reason:	euthanised: collapsed
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Topeka Zoo, in United States

Date of arrival

1966-07-16	Topeka Zoo from Catskill Game Farm

1964-07-01	Catskill Game Farm from Augsburg Zoo

Record history
History of updates	2009-03-01: Management, Text 2009-09-28: prev locations 2018-03-13: sick 2018-09-12: dead 2021-12-24: Born in Asia

Latest document update	2021-12-24 08:20:25

† Sunda is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 2018-09-12 at Topeka Zoo, in United States, . Official death reason described as collapsed.

Origin

Sunda was born wild 1962 at Asia unspecified location.

Comments / pictures

The Topeka Zoo's two elephants Sunda and Tembo have been in Protected Contact since 1996. They have been together since Tembo's arrival in 1976. Topeka Zoo is one of the few facilities in North America to still have cohabitating Species kept together.

2018-03-13; "Last Monday, Sunda started blowing a discharge from her trunk," said Zoo Director Brendan Wiley. "Sunday morning, the illness took a turn for the worse. She became very lethargic; almost unresponsive. She was very pale. By early afternoon on Sunday, she began to stabilize."

2018-09-12: Monday was the first day she couldn't stand on her own, she couldn’t stand up on her own, the zoo says. The Topeka Fire Department used straps, pulleys, and ropes to lift her to her Feet.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Sunda, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Topeka Zoo in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 28 April 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=573. (archived at the Wayback machine)