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Grant’s Farm’s 4th and last remaining African elephant, Max, dies

St. Louis Public Radio | By Eli Chen
Published December 14, 2018 at 2:17 PM CST
Max, a 14-year-old African elephant, died at at Grant's Farm.
Grant's Farm
Max, a 14-year-old African elephant, died at at Grant's Farm.

The last remaining elephant at Grant’s Farm has died this week, following the deaths of two others this month.

Max, a 14-year-old African elephant, died on Wednesday night. Two elephants, Toby and Mickey died earlier this month. Grant’s Farm did not release a cause of death for them, but Mickey had lived with a brain tumor. Another elephant, Bud, died in March due to pneumonia. 

Max, a 14-year-old African elephant, died at at Grant's Farm.
Credit Grant's Farm
Max, a 14-year-old African elephant, died at at Grant's Farm.

Grant’s Farm did not release a cause of death for Max. 

“While his regular tests in recent months did not show any signs of concern, we know that as a herd animal, he was greatly impacted by the recent deaths of Toby and Mickey,” Grant’s Farm officials said in a statement.

The other three elephants died in their 30s. The expected lifespan for elephants raised in captivity is about 17 years.

Max had been living at Grant’s Farm since 2013 and came from an elephant sanctuary in Arkansas. Farm officials did not respond to requests for comment.

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Eli Chen
Eli Chen is the science and environment reporter at St. Louis Public Radio. She comes to St. Louis after covering the eroding Delaware coast, bat-friendly wind turbine technology, mouse love songs and various science stories for Delaware Public Media/WDDE-FM. Before that, she corralled robots and citizen scientists for the World Science Festival in New York City and spent a brief stint booking guests for Science Friday’s live events in 2013. Eli grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, where a mixture of teen angst, a love for Ray Bradbury novels and the growing awareness about climate change propelled her to become the science storyteller she is today. When not working, Eli enjoys a solid bike ride, collects classic disco, watches standup comedy and is often found cuddling other people’s dogs. She has a bachelor’s in environmental sustainability and creative writing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has a master’s degree in journalism, with a focus on science reporting, from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.
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