Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

Features of the elephant’s reproductive tract that are unusual include the
internal testes of males and the very long urogenital canal extending from the
urethral and vaginal openings to the vulva in females. This canal measures
approximately one metre in adult cows (and see section 3.6).
Superficial veins are only seen on the surface of the ears, anterior surface of
proximal forelimbs and medial aspect of the distal portion of rear limbs.
There is no lacrimal apparatus; the harderian gland and the interior surface of
the nictitating membrane supplies all moisture and lubrication for eyes.
2.4 Longevity
Longevity has been recorded as 60 years in the wild (Barnes 1984) and 45 and
57 years for captive African and Asian respectively (Eisenberg 1981).
However, the oldest captive elephant recorded was probably Jesse at Sydney
Zoo who lived 69 years (Crandall 1964). It is generally accepted that life
expectancy in the wild is from 50-70 years, but normally not beyond 65
(Nowak 1991) (Kingdon 1997).
The life expectancies of wild and working Asiatic elephants have been shown
to be similar, with all animals dying by age 70. However that of zoo and
circus elephants in Europe was much shorter with most animals dead by age
40 (Kurt 1974) and only 1% of animals live beyond 50 (Schmid 1998).
Fig. 1. African and Asian elephant profiles
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