Kerala lost its “granny elephant” and Asia’s oldest captive jumbo when 88-year-old Chengalloor Dakshayani collapsed on the temple premises in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Dakshayani had been one of the 519 captive elephants in the state, where no temple festival is complete without them. The board had accorded the “Gaja Muthassi” (granny elephant) title on Dakshayani considering her age and popularity. In 2016, the Universal Records Forum, considered next only to the Guinness World Records, had certified her as Asia’s oldest elephant. Dakshayani had initially been owned by the erstwhile royal family of Travancore that had obtained her from the Konni elephant camp in Pathanamthitta when she was five.

Source: The Telegraph February 07, 2019 13:18 UTC