MAINZ, Germany — A 49-year-old elephant needed a crane to get back up on her feet after falling over while "goofing around" at a Swiss zoo on Tuesday.
Druk weighs more than 3 tons and is the oldest mammal at Zurich's zoo.
She was playing with much younger members of her herd when she took a tumble and was too weak to stand up on her own.
"Druk tripped over ... because her eyesight is not so good anymore,” senior zoo curator Robert Zingg told NBC News.
The elephant cow has never given birth but "has for many years been playing an important role as a leader and social aunt in the herd,” according to zoo officials.
“She was eating well this morning and we very much hope that she will be able to recover,” Zingg added.
Druk arrived at the zoo in 1968, just a year after she was born in the kingdom of Bhutan. Elephants typically live 45 to 50 years in captivity.
Zingg said the zoo could not rule out euthanizing the pachyderm, if “we detect any signs that she is suffering."
