- Related Scientific Publications
- Adopt an Asian Elephant!
- See Asian Art at the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries
- AZA Elephant Species Survival Plan
Meet the Zoo's Asian Elephants
Three Asian elephants live at the National Zoo, but plans call for growing the herd to form a social group like those found in the wild. We are designing a new, bigger, state-of-the-art home to house males—essential to accomodate Kandula in the future—as well as a multi-generation herd. The current Elephant House isn't suited to house an adult male elephant.
Kandula, a male, was born on November 25, 2001. He weighed 324 pounds at birth. His mother is Shanthi, and he is the Zoo's smallest elephant. How does this young elephant like to have fun? 
Find out.
Kandula (KAN-dula) is named for the most famous elephant in Sri Lanka's history. The original Kandula was known for his courage, strength, and loyalty. He was a gift to an infant prince 2,150 years ago, and the future king and his elephant grew up together.
Shanthi, a female Asian elephant, was born about 1975. Shanthi came from Sri Lanka, where she was rehabilitated at the Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage. She was given to the National Zoo as a gift from the children of Sri Lanka in 1976. Shanthi means "peace" in Sinhalese. (Shanthi is sometimes also translated as "blessing." As in any language, a particular word may have several meanings and these may vary regionally.)
She weighs at least 9,000 pounds. Shanthi is the Zoo's largest Asian elephant, and has a large pink patch on the underside of her trunk. She has the least amount of pink on the upper side of her trunk.
Kandula is her second calf; a female born in 1993 died of a then-unknown virus in 1995.
Ambika is a female Asian elephant who was born around 1948 and weighs about 7,600 pounds. Ambika was captured in the Coorg forest in India when she was about eight years of age and placed in a work, or logging, camp. In 1961 Ambika was given to the National Zoo as a gift from the children of India.
Ambika is a medium-sized Asian elephant, has a small amount of pink coloration around the trunk and ears, and the tops of her ears fold over.
