Elsa the lioness live in the wild. Her efforts paid off, earning Elsa worldwide fame at the time, when her early life’s story was published in the book "Born Free". When Elsa was three years old, she brought three cubs of her own to show to the Adamsons, whom the Adamsons named “Jespah” (male), “Gop (male), and “Little Elsa” (female). The life of Elsa and her cubs is covered in the book "Living Free", published not long afterwards. Elsa's died prematurely of a form of babesiosis, a tick-borne blood disease similar to malaria which often infects the cat family. Elsa’s grave is in
Joy Adamson each other to educate her, but after she died and her cubs were taken in by the park, their interests went in separate directions, as did their lives. While neither wanted a divorce nor a legal separation, their conflicting interests (George wanted to continue to work with lions and she with cheetahs) made it necessary for them to live apart (though they sometimes discussed living together again, they never did). They spent each Christmas together and they remained on good terms. Using her own notes and George's journals, Joy wrote "Born Free" to tell the lion's tale. She submitted it