Although infant animals can die in the wild from natural causes, they are more likely to die while in captivity due to the conditions at a zoo. A handful of animals are born and live healthy lives, and that is enough for zoos. Even though a few of the infants do live, a great deal of them do not. An example of an animal that has died prematurely multiple times are the African elephants. The African elephants that are captive in zoos are three times more likely to perish than ones that live in the wild. Not only are the African elephants affected, the Asian elephants are also. The Asian elephants in zoos die faster than elephants that work in timber camps from birth (“10 Facts about Zoos” par. 7). Elephants are not the only animals that faces death at a quicker rate while being held captive. The article “10 Facts about Zoos” states, “...40% of lion cubs die [in zoos] before one month of age. In the wild, only 30% of cubs are thought to die before they are six months old and at least a third of those deaths are due to factors which are absent in zoos, like predation” (“10 Facts about Zoos” par. 8). In other words, the article verifies that ten percent more of lion cubs die in zoos before they turn one month old than they do in the wild. Another argument explained by Justin Jouvenal, writer at the Washington Post, is there are numerous factors that could go into the infants dying due to the zoos. Animals have gone unfed, without water, trapped in filthy cages, and have had untreated injuries and illnesses (Jouvenal par. 15). If an animal does not try to escape and lives past infancy, then they also could be killed for being a “surplus” animal.