Born in Germany, he would have turned 45 in November, making him one of the oldest African elephants in Europe. He arrived at the Valencian park in 2013 and, due to his unique character, he was an animal very loved by the entire team.
In a “life park” like BIOPARC, which houses thousands of animals of more than 150 species, joys in the form of births are frequent. But for the staff who dedicate their work every day to guaranteeing the well-being of the animals in their care, each death, even of an animal of considerable age, is a hard blow. On this occasion it has been Kibo, the male African elephant, who would have turned 2022 in November 45 years. In Europe, only two other males, aged 45 and 47, have surpassed him in age.
Video: Kibo the elephant.
The commotion has been enormous because the event occurred suddenly during the night and no evidence could have predicted what happened.. The day before, the animal's activity developed completely normally and it was in perfect condition even during veterinary training, where the technical staff has a closer relationship. Early in the morning, with the beginning of the daily control routines, the animal was found dead. A special protocol was immediately launched with the entire technical and veterinary team of the park, which was joined by a group of professors from the Histology and Pathological Anatomy Unit of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University and belonging to the Institute. of Research in Biomedical Sciences. The autopsy was carried out by a specialized group of 20 professionals without finding any evidence, so an in-depth analysis of the samples is being carried out, as well as histopathological, microbiological and molecular studies, in order to determine the cause of death.
Kibo was born in Hannover (Germany) and came to BIOPARC Valencia in 2013 from Boras (Sweden) on the recommendation of the European Endangered Species Breeding Program (EEP) of the African elephant (African loxodonta) to live with seven individuals, six females and a younger male. This emblematic species has suffered a decline of more than 60% of its population in the last decade and is included as endangered on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. Kibo was perfectly recognizable for his impressive size and for having only one tusk and in these years, his unique character has made him an animal especially loved and admired by the team that took care of him every day.
