Abstract
Some zoos in Japan killed many large animals providing against air raids during the Pacific War. Among the terrible history in zoo of Japan, the three Asian elephants in Ueno Zoo killed by Tokyo Metropolitan government office(Tokyo-to)have been symbolic in social respects of peace since the end of the War. We examined the records on the carcass of the elephants in detail and traced the existence of the specimens. And we applied the age determination methods to Asian elephant mandible stored in the University of Tokyo to distinguish the individual from the elephants killed in zoo. As a result, the specimens of these killed elephants have not been present in any university and museum, although the University of Tokyo and the National Science Museum were expected to store them. However, we could demonstrate how mammalian and veterinary researchers dealt these elephant carcasses.
