From Richard Reynolds

The noted elephant expert and keeper Alan Roocraft says this is the largest African elephant he has ever seen. This is what Alan said on May 21, 2006- - - - "I was just working for the Tel Aviv Zoo in Israel and there I saw the largest African I have ever seen. When he walks into his stall he has to pass under gate structures that are reckoned to be 3.50 meters (11.489 ft.) and he still has to bend his back a little to get his shoulders under - - The keepers [standing] next to him at the gate are not small people." On May 22, 2006 Alan wrote me as follows- - - Hi Richard - - I will ask the folks at Tel Aviv if they can get an exact measurement on Yossi for the records, my guess is that they do have a measurement but they did not share it world wide. Another bull that is pushing the height limits is an African male at Beekse Bergen Safari Park in Holland. His name is Calimerio, he was at Basel Zoo before BB and before that at Rome Zoo. I'll be in touch, Alan. _______________ At this size (c. 11' 6") Yossi is some 9 inches taller than was Jumbo. How about that. With many adult male Africans now in captivity, we are seeing the truly gigantic size to which they can grow. I believe that the African male Angus at Mike Hackenberger's Bowmanville zoo near Toronto, Canada was almost as big as Yossi when he died on January 8, 2006. But back to Yossi - - Yossi was captive born - - at Tel Aviv's Ramat Gan Park on August 11, 1974 and has himself sired 16 calves at my last report. Alas, Yossi has turned killer as reported in this item yesterday - - - - Male elephant mauls his mate at Israeli zoo Wednesday, 12:30 PM JERUSALEM, April 4 (Reuters) - A male elephant has mauled one of his mates to death at an Israeli zoo in front of crowds visiting during the Jewish Passover holiday. Yossi, a 33-year-old male African elephant and herd leader chased Atari, a 46-year-old female, and smashed her against a stone wall several times, crushing her, a video of the incident released on Wednesday showed. Some of the thousands of visitors to the Safari Zoo, outside Tel Aviv, could be heard shouting "Oh my goodness!" as she collapsed. At close to seven tonnes, Israeli zookeepers say Yossi is the largest elephant in captivity anywhere. Atari was about half his weight. "She didn't stand a chance," zookeeper Vicka Minkowitz said. Zookeepers said they had quarantined Yossi in his pen since Sunday's incident, which they are investigating with international experts. Some experts suspect the elephant, born in captivity in Israel, had a fit of rage typical of the mating season, though he had not displayed such behaviour in the past. He had previously mated peacefully with Atari, who has given birth to some of his 20 offspring, Minkowitz told Reuters. "It's the first time he has showed such a temper," she said.