Raja
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
La Barben Zoo (Parc Zoologique De La Barben) in France

Biography

☨ ♀ Raja
The little Asian elephant was Raja.

Identification

EEP nr	6710

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 50 years old
Origin
Born:	* 1963 wild
Birth place:
Death
Dead:	†2013-12-00
Death reason:	unknown:
Offspring
Total: 1 babies

1. Born 1993-03-04 (dead † 1993-03-04)	♀ stillborn EEP id: 9301
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	La Barben Zoo (Parc Zoologique De La Barben), in France

Date of arrival

2011-11-18	La Barben Zoo (Parc Zoologique De La Barben) from Mallorca Safari Park

1997-03-05	Mallorca Safari Park from International Zoo Services (John Rens)

	International Zoo Services (John Rens) from Rotterdam Zoo

1989-04-27	Rotterdam Zoo from Rhenen Zoo

1967-10-05	Rhenen Zoo from Tilburg Zoo

1967-09-00	Tilburg Zoo 1967-09-00 from Christ van Dijk

	Christ van Dijk from Soest Zoo

1966-00-00	Soest Zoo from E.A.G. van den Brink

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-18:

Latest document update	2020-10-18 06:25:24

† Raja is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 2013-12-00 at La Barben Zoo (Parc Zoologique De La Barben), in France, .

Offspring

Total: 1 babies

(F) 1993-03-04 -- † 1993-03-04 stillborn EEP id: 9301

Origin

Raja was born wild 1963.

Comments / pictures

Yesterday our vets removed the dead calf from Irma. She carried her fullgrown female baby for more then a year. The birth of Tonya and sucking Irma's nipples have started the birth process. Irma tried for more then a day to deliver the calf and she was exhausted. So we decided to do a surgery and to remove the dead calf. During the surgery under local anasthesia Irma was standing on her Feet all time. The vets opened her birth channel from the backside, just a few centimeters under her anus. They made an incision from ca. 15 cm. and tried to pull the dead calf out. Unfortunately without succes. So the team decided to devide the calf in pieces. Smaller pieces have been removed throuh this hole and the bigger pieces were pushed through her birth channel. Finally, after 12 hours work with a marvelous team, they managed the remove all pieces and could close the wound. Today Irma was doing well. She is receivig pain relief and the wound has been flushed several times.
This was the second time our vets did such a surgery. Years ago (in 1993) they used this method to remove a dead calf from Raja (now in Mallorca).
Rob Belterman, Rotterdam Zoo, 2009-02-12

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Raja, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at La Barben Zoo (Parc Zoologique De La Barben) in France. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 30 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=1536. (archived at the Wayback machine)