celebrated his 50th birthday today by becoming the first animal knighted by the

, listening to thousands of fans sing him Happy Birthday and swallowing a 40-pound cake in nine minutes and 57 seconds.

The 12,600-pound pachyderm and face of the

debuted on April 14, 1962, the first elephant born in North America in 44 years.

How big of a deal was it? Kathi Ray of Beaverton, one of roughly 12,000 people who attended the zoo's birthday bash today, would like to fill you in.

Ray was a 12-year-old in Toledo, Ore., at the time. Her class studied elephants in minute detail in the months leading up to his birth.

"The whole state was in an uproar," Ray said. "It was like everyone was united around Packy. We just couldn't do enough."

Packy's 50 years have seen big strides in zoo practices and research on elephants, a stark decline in the prospects for Asian elephants in the wild and the birth of 28 elephants at the zoo, including seven sired by Packy himself. Packy helped drive the zoo's elephant program to the top tier and was a linchpin for voter-approved bond measures to improve the zoo.

During Packy's warm morning bath today, elephant curator Bob Lee said North America's oldest Asian elephant is doing quite well at 50. In captivity, an Asian elephant's life expectancy is 44.

Packy is free of skin and digestive problems. He shows no signs of arthritis, a common problem as elephants age. And he can still outwalk his keepers with ease, Lee said -- "he still moves like a young man."

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During his bath, Packy knelt on two and then four knees. When he stood up, his bulk was daunting up close. He weighs as much as two Ford F-250s and tops 10 feet at the shoulders, with his deep brown eyes about as high as a basketball rim. He's still the clear patriarch of the zoo's seven-elephant herd, Lee said, but is relatively mild-tempered for a bull elephant.

When Packy reaches through an open door with his trunk to take a banana from your hand, you can barely feel the pull.

After the bath, Packy ambled into the front room of the elephant barn, pacing in front of windows lined with children. Their eyes went wide.

Packy tossed hay onto his back, gobbled huge stalks of bamboo and toyed with tricky feeders designed to exercise his ample and sophisticated elephant brain.

"He's big and tall and cute," 10-year-old Jaime Mahin of Troutdale summed up.

Packy was knighted as an honorary Royal Rosarian, joining Mickey Mouse and the Oregon Duck among Portland's ambassadors of good will. Rose Festival officials announced he will serve as grand marshal of this year's Grand Floral Parade (though he won't be there in person).

But the day's highlights for Packy were the singing of the birthday song -- Lee says he perks up every year when he hears it -- and his cake, layers of carrots, celery, yams, apples, bananas, buttercream frosting and whole-wheat bread. Packy likes the bread so much it's used as a training incentive.

A dozen

outside urged the zoo to build an off-site preserve for its elephants. Zoo officials say finding the right spot and operations money will be a challenge.

The zoo is

that will quadruple the space to six acres by 2015. The design is based on the many lessons Packy has passed on, Lee said -- what's worked best for Packy.

"He's taught everyone so much," Lee said, "not only here but around the world."

Lee said he hopes Packy's popularity inspires Oregonians to learn more about the plight of roughly 43,000 wild Asian elephants,

and hit by poaching and population growth in the world's densest region.

That sentiment was echoed by many who came to Packy's party, including Julia Longacre of Portland, who also turned 50 today. As a former zoo volunteer in Minnesota, Longacre said there are legitimate concerns about problems for zoo animals.

But "you only protect what you know," she said, "and this gives you a wonderful chance to get to know."

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