--- description: Ranchipur, an Asian male, was euthanized after years of health issues title: 50-Year-Old Elephant Dies at the San Diego Zoo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c5c85db88373600/6988a379cd1bba0f5c702119/san-diego-zoo-elephant-death.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 50-Year-Old Elephant Dies at the San Diego Zoo by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 24, 2016 2:40 PM CUT  Famous San Diego Zoo sign in Balboa Park in San Diego. Famous San Diego Zoo sign in Balboa Park in San Diego.Education Images/UIG/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 24, 2016 2:40 PM CUT A 50-year-old male [Asian elephant ](http://www.10news.com/news/50-year-old-asian-elephant-dies-at-san-diego-zoo "undefined")died at the [San Diego Zoo](http://time.com/4364671/zoos-improve-lives-of-animals/ "undefined") on Tuesday after years of age-related health issues. Staff members saw that Ranchipur’s condition had worsened on Tuesday as he leaned on a structure for support and remained unresponsive to medical treatment. Zoo officials decided to end his suffering with euthanasia. Ranchipur came to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 1981 and moved to the zoo itself in 2009 with the opening of a new habitat there. Zoo officials said in a statement that he was “easy to spot, with huge tusks approximately 6 to 6.5 feet long that weighed an estimated 100 pounds each.” Those tusks will be removed and inventoried for security purposes before being “properly disposed of.” \[[ABC 10 News](http://www.10news.com/news/50-year-old-asian-elephant-dies-at-san-diego-zoo "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4464308/asian-elephant-ranchipur-dies-san-diego-zoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4464308/asian-elephant-ranchipur-dies-san-diego-zoo/"},"headline":"50-Year-Old Elephant Dies at the San Diego Zoo","datePublished":"2016-08-24T14:40:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:10:17.598Z","description":"Ranchipur, an Asian male, was euthanized after years of health issues","url":"https://time.com/4464308/asian-elephant-ranchipur-dies-san-diego-zoo/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c5c85db88373600/6988a379cd1bba0f5c702119/san-diego-zoo-elephant-death.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c5c85db88373600/6988a379cd1bba0f5c702119/san-diego-zoo-elephant-death.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Famous San Diego Zoo sign in Balboa Park in San Diego California","caption":"Famous San Diego Zoo sign in Balboa Park in San Diego.","creditText":"Education Images/UIG/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4464308/asian-elephant-ranchipur-dies-san-diego-zoo/","name":"50-Year-Old Elephant Dies at the San Diego Zoo"}}]}] ```