This Weekend: EleFest at the National Zoo
By • August 6, 2026 0 615
This year, to date, there has been good elephant news and bad elephant news.
First, the bad news. One of the Bronx Zoo’s last two elephants, Happy, 55, was euthanized in May (see below).
Now for the good news. The first elephant calf born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in nearly 25 years — named Linh Mai, Vietnamese for “Spirit Blossom” — emerged on the night of Feb. 2.
Linh Mai’s arrival is an extra-special reason to participate in World Elephant Day, which (though the traditional date is Aug. 12) will be celebrated this Saturday, Aug. 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. The three-day EleFest runs from Friday to Sunday.
Note: The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, which displays a mount of the largest elephant on record, an African elephant nicknamed Henry, beneath its dome at 1000 Madison Drive NW, will celebrate World Elephant Day on Tuesday, Aug. 11, from 10:30 to noon. Its Play Date at NMNH drop-in program is designed for early learners and their families and caregivers.
During EleFest at the zoo, visitors can chat with keepers, veterinarians and nutritionists that look after the seven-member herd and personalize a thank-you postcard addressed to the Elephant Keeper Care Team.
Though the paid events — Elephant Happy Hour on Friday and Yoga with Elephants on Saturday and Sunday — are sold out, the following programs are open to all.
On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the DC Public Library book truck will be at the Asia Trail sign outside the visitor center for elephant-themed storytimes and activities for young readers as part of the library’s Discover Summer initiative. Also on Saturday, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., the Somapa Thai Dance Group will perform traditional Thai dance on Lion/Tiger Hill.
On Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon, visitors are invited to help Chalk Riot create a colorful chalk mural at the Great Meadow. Also on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to noon, Rhythmaya Dance Group, based in Vienna, Virginia, will perform South Indian dance, then lead a short workshop, on Lion/Tiger Hill.
Elephant-inspired food and drink items are being offered throughout August, including an elephant cookie from Dolci Gelati, Linh Mai’s Trunkful of Treats mint chocolate chip ice cream from Dippin’ Dots and — for those 21 and older — the Linh Mai Tai cocktail from Vintage Views.
Linh Mai brought the zoo’s elephant count to seven, all Asian. Five of the others, including her mother Nhi Linh, 12 (turning 13 on Aug. 10), and Nhi Linh’s mother Trong Nhi, 23, both born at the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands, are females. The sole male is Linh Mai’s father Spike. Born in 1981 at Zoo Miami, Spike was relocated to the Calgary Zoo after Hurricane Andrew, then lived at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay before coming to Washington in 2018.
Completing the herd are Bozie, brought to the zoo in 2013, and Swarna and Maharani, nicknamed Rani, who arrived the following year. About 50 years old, Bozie and Swarna began their lives at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. Bozie resided earlier at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo and the Baton Rouge Zoo. Swarna and Maharani, 36, were previously in Calgary.
Distinctive characteristics: Bozie’s pale gray skin and frequent vocalizing, Swarna “petite” size and pink ear edges and Maharani’s height and desire for attention.
Classified as Elephas maximus, Asian elephants — considered endangered, with between 30,000 and 50,000 in the wild — have three subspecies: Indian (indicus), Sumatran (sumatranus) and Sri Lankan (maximus again). Easily distinguished from their African counterparts by their much smaller ears, Asian elephants have twin-domed heads, straighter and smaller tusks — especially those of females, which are typically hidden by their upper lips — and one “finger” at the end of their trunks instead of the pair that African elephants have.
Asian and African elephants also have different numbers of toenails, but if you’re able to count them, you’re probably too close.
Analysis of genetic evidence has led the scientific community to divide African elephants into two species, the savanna or bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), considered endangered, and the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), considered critically endangered, largely due to tusk poaching. Though the separation occurred several million years ago, it was only officially recognized in recent years.
Where’s the nearest place to see a live African elephant, person to pachyderm (a term meaning “thick skin”)? African Journey at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, which “has a long history of caring for African elephants” and is “strongly committed to their survival in the wild,” working with Botswana-based partner Elephants for Africa.
Though the oldest elephant at the Maryland Zoo, Anna, 49, was euthanized in 2024 after a fall, still to be seen are Samson and Tuffy, both male savanna elephants, and Felix, a female savanna elephant. In 2009, the Philadelphia Zoo permanently closed its elephant exhibit, having decided not to invest in an upgraded enclosure, and made arrangements to transfer its four elephants. Two female African elephants were moved to the International Conservation Center, a sanctuary run by the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Patty, 57, the last elephant at the Bronx Zoo, may be relocated to a sanctuary. The zoo’s other female Asian elephant, Happy, who, as mentioned, was euthanized this year, had been the subject of a failed, yearslong effort by the Nonhuman Rights Project to have her legally declared a person and removed. The zoo has stated that after Patty leaves or dies it will no longer house elephants.
Keeping large animals in captivity has long been controversial. Despite the justifications for the continued existence of zoos and aquariums — that they are bases for beneficial research on and preservation of threatened animal species and stimulate appreciation for animals and careers in zoology, marine biology and environmental science — there are those who consider them (along with circuses that feature elephants and big cats, marine mammal shows and rodeos) indefensible.
According to the National Zoo, “Elephant Trails is more than an exhibit; it is also an extensive conservation program built on decades of science.” The 114,000-square-foot Elephant Trails area comprises four outdoor habitats, including “four pools for bathing, swimming and playing in the warmer months,” and the Elephant Community Center, an indoor facility. The Elephant Barn (not open to the public) “contains five ‘suite’ enclosures that can accommodate individual and multiple elephants,” a kitchen and a climate-controlled food storage space with produce misters. Another component: the Elephant Trek, a quarter-mile path for outdoor exercise.
The zoo’s Elephant Cam, linked at nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/elephants, streams daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on a 30-minute delay, then shows reruns.
