# What happens when zoo elephants die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805 "2003-03-16T17:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/1 "2003-03-16T17:08:10Z")
I don’t know how often it happens, but I assume from time to time elephants in captivity in zoos die. What do they do with the mammoth carcass?? A friend told me the story of an elephant that died of TB and the zoo’s course of action was to chop it up with chainsaws. ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/2 "2003-03-16T17:22:19Z")
What about the disease free carcasses? Do they bury/cremate them or feed them to the other animals? Seems like a bit of a waste if they don’t, as this is what would happen in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/3 "2003-03-16T17:30:40Z")
Yeah, typically that’s the way it works with most inconveniently large animals. First a necropsy has to be done, of course; sometimes vets from other zoos or students from local universities are invited to help out, since elephants are pretty long-lived and you don’t get the opportunity to dissect one very often. Then the remains are broken down into conveniently portable subunits and removed for incineration. If portions of the animal (such as the skull) are to be retained for some reason, then a museum specialist in specimen preparation might be called in. No, they don’t feed them to the other animals. For one thing, it would be an unreasonable health risk, as you could never know for certain that the carcass would be completely disease-free. Plus, it would just be weird (probably the main reason, actually). ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/4 "2003-03-16T17:30:52Z")
An asian elephant at the Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, IL died in November. If you could find a tactful way of approaching the topic, you could ask them. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/5 "2003-03-16T17:57:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terrifel \* > \*\* > > No, they don’t feed them to the other animals. For one thing, it would be an unreasonable health risk, as you could never know for certain that the carcass would be completely disease-free. Plus, it would just be weird (probably the main reason, actually). \*\* I can see it now. Mad elephant disease. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/6 "2003-03-16T18:38:39Z")
When the Auckland Zoo’s elephant Rajah died, they had him stuffed and sent to the local War Memorial Museum, where the remains were recently [refurbished.](http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/news/council/200202/17/a11.asp) They’ll probably do the same for Kashin, the present-day ageing media star pachyderm. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/7 "2003-03-16T19:37:20Z")
Sigh, in one of those, I heard it somewhere or read it somewhere posts that’s the anti-thesis of this place, occassionally the zookeepers _do_ eat small portions of the animals. I forget the exact reason why, but it has something to do with better understanding of animals. They only do it with animals that they can rule out disease as being the cause of death. I think it was an NPR story which discussed this, but I’m too tired to do a search on their website to try and find it. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/8 "2003-03-16T20:36:04Z")
It’s also important, for the sake of culinary science, to know if elephant tastes better broiled with onions or breaded and deep-fried. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/9 "2003-03-16T21:57:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*It’s also important, for the sake of culinary science, to know if elephant tastes better broiled with onions or breaded and deep-fried. \*\* They’re better deep-fried. ---
**Author:** ![mozart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mozart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozart)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/10 "2003-03-16T22:10:34Z")
But I don’t own a Zoo. What happens when my Pet elephant dies? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/11 "2003-03-16T22:40:04Z")
clayton\_e writes: \> They’re better deep-fried. Now if we can only find a fryer that’s large enough. mozart writes: \> But I don’t own a Zoo. What happens when my Pet elephant \> dies? We practice suttee, of course, so you go in the fryer with the elephant. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/12 "2003-03-16T22:47:22Z")
On a nature show once, they had some scientists use stone cutting tools to carve up a conviently deceased zoo elephant. They wanted to compare the resulting cut marks on the bones with those found on mammoth fossils to see if they could determine if prehistoric people butchered mammoths. The big problem is smell. Elephant guts hold huge amounts of rotting vegatation. Bon apetit! ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/13 "2003-03-16T23:30:13Z")
“scientists use stone cutting tools” “The big problem is smell. Elephant guts hold huge amounts of rotting vegatation.” That’s probably because they were scientists, not hunters. Hunters would have known not to cut open the stomach & intestines. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/14 "2003-03-17T00:37:15Z")
Cindy the elephant, a long time attraction at the Tacoma, Washington Point Defiance Zoo, was pitched in a local landfill when she died. You can read about it [here.](http://www.crowd-inc.org/cindy11-02.html) ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/15 "2003-03-17T00:48:09Z")
Anyone have a really big meat grinder? ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/16 "2003-03-17T01:07:23Z")
Mmmmm…elephant sausages… The problem will be when they add twenty tonnes of breadcrumbs and bonemeal to make it last longer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/17 "2003-03-17T04:02:40Z")
I don’t know about elephants, but I _do_ have a book here on my desk with a recipe for a hippopotamus sandwich… ---
**Author:** ![stypticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@stypticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stypticus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/18 "2003-03-17T04:52:11Z")
“What’s the filling in the sandwiches?” “Whole cold roast oxen.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/19 "2003-03-17T05:36:59Z")
C’mon, when an elephant dies, or a hippo, or a rhino or a giraffe or any other large animal, even a Komodo dragon dies, what happens is, local schoolkids find meatloaf on the menu that week. I shouldn’t have to tell you people these things. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805/20 "2003-03-17T19:48:24Z")
Zookeepers get elephant buffet for the next 6 months. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-zoo-elephants-die/161805.md?page=2)