The first elephant to be born in captivity, Hansa, died from a herpes virus recently at the Woodland Park Zoo. She was just 6 1/2 years old, and had been relatively healthy until her death.

Until June 8, the virus that infected Hansa had not been seen before. There are two other known kinds of herpes viruses found in elephants.

Dr. Laura Richman, the world's leading expert in elephant herpes viruses said that

"People just didn't know what to look for."

"This virus is, genetically, very old," Richman said. "When looking at the other herpes viruses and this one, it is clear that they have developed with the elephants."

Though this is a newly detected virus, it does have some similarities to the other viruses.

"Both herpes viruses attack blood vessels in the elephants, but this one attacks a different kind of blood vessel, bigger blood vessels and different organs," Richman said.

Bruce Bohmke, Deputy Director of Woodland Park Zoo, added, "It's really hard to understand herpes viruses. Her death happened relatively quickly. She had mild intestinal upsets ... but it didn't seem to be too serious."

Zoo officials ran all the protocol tests to find out what was wrong with her, but there was "no indication that something was drastically wrong," Bruce Upchurch, Woodland Park Zookeeper for the elephants said.

Because of her birth in captivity, Hansa was a special animal at the zoo.

"We worked, very hard, to have a baby elephant," Bohmke said, "but a lot can be learned from her death,"

Richman said a blood test is currently in development that will be administered to an elephant if it gets sick.

"We are hoping that the drug that is currently used to kill the other two herpes viruses will work for this one too," she said, "...but we just don't know yet."

Though this loss was especially hard for the Woodland Park Zoo, and many Seattleites who have watched Hansa grow up, people are moving on.

"One thing that spans out to me is the support of the community. We have received so much care from everyone," Upchurch said.

"As sad as this all makes us," Bohmke reflected, "I'm amazed how much, in three weeks' time, we have learned. We will continue to learn from this."