Rukku
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple (Tiruvannamalai) in India

Biography

☨ ♀ Rukku
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Alternative name:	Rukmani

Identification


Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 29 years old
Origin
Born:	* 1988-04-30 captive-born
Birth place:	in Theppakadu Mudumalai Forest Camp (MFC)

Parents:	♂ x ♀ Bhama
Death
Dead:	†2017-03-22
Death reason:	accident: sustained injuries when panicking
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple (Tiruvannamalai), in India

Date of arrival

1991-00-00	Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple (Tiruvannamalai) from Theppakadu Mudumalai Forest Camp (MFC)

Record history
History of updates	2018-04-17: Kerala DCEK Nr

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

† Rukku is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 2017-03-22 at Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple (Tiruvannamalai), in India, . Official death reason described as sustained injuries when panicking.

Origin

Rukku was born captive-born 1988-04-30 at Theppakadu Mudumalai Forest Camp (MFC).

Parentage

Parents of Rukku are: ♂ (father) and ♀ Bhama (mother).

Siblings through the mother Bhama:

() Mahesh
1971-01-31(M) Wasim
1999? - † 1999 () Bairavi

Pedigree

**Rukkus ancestral Pedigree:**
P	I	II	III
Rukku	Sire (f): Born: 2025-06	Sire ff: Born: 2025-06	Sire fff:
		Sire ff: Born: 2025-06	Dame ffm:
		Dame fm: Born: 2025-06	Sire fmf:
		Dame fm: Born: 2025-06	Dame fmm:
	Dame m: Bhama Born: ~1949 2025-06	Sire mf: Born: 2025-06	Sire mff:
		Sire mf: Born: 2025-06	Dame mfm:
		Dame mm: Born: 2025-06	Sire mmf:
		Dame mm: Born: 2025-06	Dame mmm:

Comments / pictures

Born in Mudumalai on April 30, 1988, Rukku was gifted to the temple by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in August 1995.

The elephant was brought to the temple at the age of three years and domesticated. It was in the temple for close to 27 years. The elephant was given by the Tamil Nadu government to the temple....

The elephant sustained injuries when it was taken out for a regular walk around 9pm on Wednesday. When it was walking through the fifth prakaram of the temple, a pack of dogs barked and ran towards it. The elephant tried to run away and hit a barricade. The Mahout and a few others managed to calm down the elephant and gave it water. After a while, it was taken to its shed. However, the elephant panicked when a dog run towards it. When it tried to run away, it hit a tin sheet and sustained multiple injuries.

2017: Rukku (the Temple elephant) passed away at her night enclosure at Arunachaleswarar Temple at 12.30 a.m. on Thursday March 22, 2017.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Rukku, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple (Tiruvannamalai) in India. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 14 June 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=5972. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Litterature about Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple (Tiruvannamalai)

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Links

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More elephants that was born: 1988-04-30
More elephants that died: 2017-03-22
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The elephant database startpage. Statistics
List of all captive born elephants in the database

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