By almost any measure, Packy is majestic. Standing 10 and a half feet at the shoulder, he is thought to be the tallest Asian elephant in North America, and he cuts a lithe figure even at six tons. He is also the oldest male of his species on this continent — born in Portland more than 53 years ago, at a time when it was extremely rare for elephants to be born in zoos at all, and rarer still for those that were born to survive.