Philadelphia Zoo - Petal Tribute 2

Because I have no videos of Petal, the wonderful Philadelphia Zoo elephant who died June 9, 2008, I have created two slideshows from still photos I took of her June 8, 2008.

This is the second one.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Philadelphia
• Zoo
• zoos
• elephant
• elephants
• wildlife
• animal
• animals
• mammals
• Petal

[ThePowerofElephants]

@proboscidea123, Petal was a larger female African elephant. She weighed about 8,700 pounds and maintained a good weight for years. Petal soon became the Zoo's largest resident after Dulary lost weight, and before her death, weighed 9,300 pounds.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@ThePowerofElephants Please include the source of your information when you reply to questions here!

[proboscidea123]

How much did Petal weigh?

[ZooVisitorMM]

@proboscidea123 I am hoping to be able to ask someone at the Zoo who knows the answer to your question. I try to answer as many questions as I can, but I am not an official representative of the Zoo, so when someone asks a specific factual question like yours, I want to be sure I am getting information from a reliable source.

[awesomeH2O]

Yes...a little young to die in my opinion.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O Fifty-two is not young for an African elephant. Also, are you saying elephants never die young in the wild?

[animalsdeserveaplace]

Petal was a wise, grand elephant who taught us all something special. We will never forget you, Petal.

[animalsdeserveaplace]

R.I.P. Petal.

[animalsdeserveaplace]

I think there are too many animal rights activists and zoo extremists out there who make themselves to be so huge that they get caught up in trying to be right and winning arguing that they forget what's important - the animals. I am not a zoo extremist or animal rights activist...I look at the facts, make observations, and then make an opinion.

[rowanmorrison]

@animalsrule1231 If you're looking for the life expectancy of African elephants, it's from the AZA. You don't seem to know many facts about elephants, Philly Zoo or otherwise, though you have some strong feelings and beliefs about them.

[rowanmorrison]

@animalsrule1231 Dulary is thriving at the Elephant Sanctuary, as Petal would have thrived at the PAWS sanctuary. Zoo extremists need to remember that Petal died a year after Dulary moved to the Elephant Sanctuary, so had Dulary stayed, she would have been alone at the Zoo (since she didn't get along with Bette and was kept separated from her).

[animalsrule1231]

@awesomeH2O Not exactly. Some African elephants naturally do not reach that age. The average life expectancy is about 50-60 years. Plus, no one seems to fuss quite the same way if someone reaches 60 years old compared to 75 years instead.

[animalsrule1231]

Poor Petal. I will miss her. She was able to teach zoo visitors the dignity and art of being an elephant, and she was a surrogate mother to Kallie and Bette. More importantly, she was Dulary's older sister for most of Dulary's life. The animal rights activists need to remember that in sending Dulary to the Sanctuary, Dulary lost Petal.

[animalsrule1231]

@ThePowerofElephants Where did you get that information?

[proboscidea123]

So sad...

:(

[proboscidea123]

@ThePowerofElephants Thank you.