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2026-03-13 | Animals
We welcome Hope, a critically endangered male Sumatran elephant
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- Hope is a six-year-old male elephant who shares a mother with Bogor, another male we have been caring for since 2023. Both were born at Zoo Aquarium Madrid as part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP).
- The Sumatran elephant is critically endangered, with severely fragmented populations in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- The Selwo Aventura team has been working with these large mammals for years, and they will now form their own group of male elephants in a facility where the female elephant Jangoli also resides.
On March 6, Hope, a young male Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) weighing 1,500 kilograms, was welcomed by the entire Selwo Aventura team after his journey from Madrid Zoo Aquarium. From now on, he will once again live with his brother Bogor, whom we have been caring for since 2023.
As Eloy Serrano, head of Conservation at Selwo Aventura, explains, “our facilities have been designated to house males, juveniles, or single adults” , in this case within the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for Asian elephants. Thus, the transfer is in line with conservation objectives, as is always the case in the work of modern zoos that are members of the Iberian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AIZA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).
Hope was born at Zoo Aquarium Madrid on March 8, 2020, the year of the historic COVID pandemic. As elephants are social animals, the EEP coordinator has assessed Hope's integration into a group suitable for his development into adulthood, in this case with her brother Bogor, Serrano commented. In this case, there was a double motivation, because in addition to the need for Hope to leave his group at the Zoo, a new companion for Bogor was also needed. In this regard, our conservation team is clear: “Bogor and Hope will form a pair that will grow up with the best guarantees of well-being”.
Bogor, Hope, and Jangoli: youth and experience
With this arrival, there is now a majority of male elephants at Selwo Aventura. After the departure of Kanvar, the first Asian elephant born in Spain, in 2013, the facilities were expanded and improved for this purpose in 2016, allowing for the arrival of Bogor in 2023, who, in keeping with the goal of conserving the species, is reunited with his brother Hope.
We also host Jangoli, an elderly female who, at 58 years of age, has very different social requirements from her young male companions.
Hope's adaptation to his new habitat
As for the handling of the newcomer, the first phase will be Hope's acclimatization to his new facilities—bedrooms, doors, meadows, etc.—as well as to the routines and medical training and to the specialized zookeepers who work with these large mammals.
At the same time, Hope and Bogor will gradually begin to interact: first visually, and shortly thereafter with protected contact. The Conservation team hopes that they will become closer in a short time: “If all goes well, which we hope it will, given that they know each other, a second phase of bonding will be considered,” concludes Eloy Serrano.
Sumatran elephant, a critically endangered species
The subspecies to which Hope belongs, the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the authoritative organization on all matters relating to the conservation status of species, the threats they face, and the recommendations necessary to preserve them. Of the four subspecies of Asian elephant (Borneo, Sri Lankan, Sumatran, and Indian), the Sumatran elephant is one of those facing the most critical situation, with a severe decline in its wild population and threats related to habitat loss and human activity.
The Sumatran elephant measures an average of between 1.7 and 2.3 meters in height and weighs between two and four tons. As with other Asian elephants, males have tusks, whereas in African elephants, both sexes have tusks. Social animals, they group together in matriarchal systems around an adult female, although males, once they reach a certain age, separate to live alone.
