Two Asian Elephant arrived from Thailand at 9:10 p.m. today (October 11th)! They were donated by Thailand as a token of friendship to the Japanese people, and Ueno Zoo will now be welcoming them.

The donated Asian Elephant are a male and a female. The male is named Artid (5 years old) and the female is named Authi (4 years old). Their names mean "sun" and "sunrise" respectively in Thai, and were apparently chosen to evoke the image of the Japanese flag.

OISCA, a Japanese NGO (non-governmental organization), has been conducting reforestation activities in Surin Province, northeastern Thailand, for over 20 years. This Asian Elephant was presented by Surin Province as a token of gratitude and friendship, and also to celebrate the birth of Princess Aiko (10 months old), the eldest daughter of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Japan.

　OISCA is an international cooperation NGO founded in 1961, working on human resource development through agriculture and forestry in countries across Asia, the Pacific, and South America, and engaging in regional development and afforestation.



The two elephants that departed Eurasian Moorhen today have safely arrived in Narita. They reportedly left Narita around 7:30 PM, so they should be arriving at Ueno Zoo soon (it's currently 8:35 PM, and they appear to be moving around the Kinshicho area. I'm off to see them in front of the elephant enclosure!...).

(...We're back!) It was getting a little chilly as night fell, and many members of the press and other media had gathered, but after 9 pm, two trucks arrived, each carrying one animal. The cages were lowered next to the trucks using a crane.

Before being released into the enclosure, they were introduced to the press, but while the female Uthai easily came out of her cage, the male Ati wouldn't listen to the zookeepers who had come to Japan with him from Thailand. Even when they tried to push him out of the cage, he would stubbornly resist, making a "paoon" sound.

I was wondering how long this pushing and shoving between humans and elephants would continue, but after more than 30 minutes, they finally came out. What a relief. The staff and embassy officials who had been watching applauded. The elephants received sugarcane and bananas from a counselor at the Thai Embassy in Japan, and knelt down on the ground at the command given in Thai by the person in charge, finally "showing" themselves.

We entered the elephant enclosure around 10:30. Two small elephants were placed in the spot where Asha had been. Well, that's a relief.

Ueno Zoo now has five Asian Elephant. In addition to the two that arrived recently, there is Menam (male, 38 years old), who was born in Thailand; Daya (female, 25 years old) and Surya (female, 8 years old), who came from India; and Ati and Uthai, making a total of two males and three females.

There have been no successful breeding cases of Asian Elephant yet. Breeding at Ueno Zoo is highly anticipated.

The two animals will undergo a quarantine period of approximately two weeks, and the presentation ceremony is scheduled for 10:00 AM on October 29th. Further details will be announced later.



Photo above: Arrival at Narita Airport.

Photo below: Inside the park. Uthai is on the left, and Ati is on the right.