Asian elephants to leave Taronga Zoo, after a century on display

After more than a century on display, Taronga’s popular Asian elephants will move out next year for a larger, more social home in a safari park.

Taronga Zoo’s special connection with Asian elephants dates back more than a century, to when a four-tonne elephant named Jessie ambled through the streets of the CBD and cruised across the harbour when the zoo moved from Moore Park to Mosman in 1916.

But that relationship is coming to a bittersweet end.

31-year-old Pak Boon, who weighs a whopping 3860kg, and 25-year-old Tang Mo will leave Taronga next year for a larger, more social elephant herd at Monarto Safari Park in South Australia, in a 14-hectare space complete with multiple swimming holes.

The herd will also feature a female elephant from Auckland Zoo and a male and female from Perth Zoo, allowing for a traditional matriarchal elephant herd.

“Tang Mo and Pak Boon have been much-loved residents of the zoo since they arrived with three other elephants from Thailand in 2006 to establish a regional breeding program that has flourished across multiple zoos, educated and inspired a love of elephants to millions of guests, and contributed vital learnings about the care for elephants to zoo and wild settings,” Taronga Conservation Society Australia CEO Cameron Kerr said.

The Asian elephants at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in December 2021. Picture: Rick Stevens

Although Pak Boon and Tang Mo are the only elephants at Taronga, a herd of seven Asian elephants reside in the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo.

Six Asian elephants have been born at Taronga since 2006 — five in Sydney and one in Dubbo.

Pak Boon’s sawdust bath at Taronga Zoo in 2022.

Pak Boon at Taronga Zoo in 2022. Pictures: Rick Stevens

“Over the coming year, Taronga has big plans to celebrate elephants and ensure the community has the opportunity to say their farewells and to thank the dedicated keepers who have cared for them for almost two decades,” Kerr said.

In place of the elephants, Taronga will install a new mixed-species habitat with a greater one-horned rhinoceros called Hari and water buffalo.

Asian Elephant Jessie with a Taronga keeper.

The greater one-horned rhino is one of the largest rhinoceros species in the world and the creatures are regarded as “real life unicorns” for their singular horns.

Hari is 1350kg and was born at Western Plains Zoo in 2021.

Elephant rides were an attraction at Tarona Zoo until 1976.

An elephant keeper rides an elephant a walk through Taronga Zoo.

Jessie, the enormous elephant who made the famous cross-harbour trek in 1916, arrived in Sydney from India in 1883, just in time for the opening of the Billy Goat Swamp Zoo in Moore Park, Taronga’s predecessor.

She even entered Australian slang, with “more hide then Jessie” used to ­describe someone being cheeky.

The elephant enclosure will be transformed into a mixed species habitat for greater one horned rhino Hari and water buffalo. Picture: Rick Stevens

Jessie lived at Taronga’s “elephant temple”, a gold-domed building designed after India’s ornate temples.

Jessie lived to 64 — a remarkably long life for a zoo elephant — and became a staple at Taronga.

On one occasion, visitors packed into a small amphitheatre to celebrate the giant elephant’s birthday, complete with an enormous birthday cake, which Jessie happily ate.

In those days, patrons could sit atop Taronga’s elephants for a ride, one of the most popular attractions the zoo had to offer.

Visitors would climb a small ladder atop the elephant’s back, where they would sit on a wooden seat — called a howdah — to enjoy the ride.

The seat could hold several people at a time plus the keeper, who would steer the elephant along.

Rides were offered for just one penny when the zoo opened in 1916, and the tradition carried on until 1976, when it was halted for ethical reasons.

More than 35,000 visitors enjoyed a ride on Jessie between 1916 and her death in 1939.

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