Not all sorrow speaks loudly — some simply walk in circles.
At Mysuru’s Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Richie, a 33-year-old African elephant, is a silent symbol of solitude. He is India’s only African elephant in southern captivity and has lived without companionship for the past ten years.
Richie was born in Mysuru to Timboo and Zombi, two African elephants brought from Germany as part of a zoo exchange initiative. Sadly, his mother Zombi died shortly after giving birth, and Richie was raised under the care of his father, Timboo, until his passing a decade ago.
Since then, Richie has lived alone. Despite over ten efforts by the zoo to bring in a female African elephant, strict international regulations on wildlife trade and the species’ rarity have made this nearly impossible.
Today, Richie remains the only African elephant in Mysuru, and one of just two in India — both of whom are male and housed in separate zoos, hundreds of kilometers apart. This isolation has left the African elephant population in India functionally disconnected, with no prospects for natural companionship or breeding.
Unlike the widely seen Indian elephants, African elephants like Richie remain outsiders, with no herds, kin, or shared environment.
His loneliness isn’t loud — it moves quietly, echoing the cost of captivity for species that thrive in connection.