Zoo’s Search for Buried Skull Turns Into an Elephantine Task

An elephant’s head might seem like a tough item to misplace.

But that’s what happened at the San Francisco Zoo, where staff members and volunteers have been digging holes since spring in an attempt to find the head of Pennie, an Asian elephant who died in 1995.

After Pennie was euthanized because of a severely unstable hip and a suspected neurological disorder, zoo officials detached and buried her head to preserve the skull for educational use.

The person who picked the burial spot, former associate curator Stephen Castillo, has since moved to Florida to work at Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom. And there is only one person left at the zoo who was present at the burial.

Would that humans had the memories of elephants.

“We’re trying to take it with a sense of humor, but it’s serious too, because it’s an important scientific piece,” said Diane Kisich, the zoo’s director of youth programs, who also manages the bones collection.

The zoo has spent about $900 so far--mostly on renting heavy equipment--to dig holes between two trees that Castillo used as markers for the head’s burial. Trouble is, the trees are about 40 feet apart.

“It’s been an adventure, because it’s been like an archeological dig,” said associate curator Michele Rudovsky.

In December, zoo workers found the spot where Pennie’s ribs, internal organs and other parts were buried. That gives them hope, because her skull is supposed to be in an adjacent pit.

One complication is that bald eagles live in an aviary near the burial site. Zoo officials have had to schedule their digs around the eagles’ mating season, which runs from late January to May.

“We’ll give it one more stab in the next few weeks,” Kisich said.

But it may be spring before they finally find the skull, which is about 4 feet across at its widest point and about 3 feet high.

This is the first time the zoo has tried to preserve an elephant skull. But the facility has had success with burying the remains of such creatures as a giraffe and a rhinoceros. Most dead animals are incinerated.

Kisich suggested that the zoo might place a silver dollar with any future bones it buries: “Then we can use a metal detector.”