David Hancocks on Elephants......

30-06-2006

jelle and michelle,

melbourne zoo certainly do have the facilities for natural breeding. i know there has been much talk of AI, but melbourne's enclosure was designed in such a way that elephants could be properly separated or introduced in this way. the enclosures for each sex are inter-connected.

taronga on the otherhand will be reliant on the cows being walked to the bull exhibit (which is on in another part of the zoo) if the zoo is to evenually initate natural breeding.

30-06-2006

Hay guys,

Bong-su and mekapah have been tried to be breed for many years, i have footage of him mounting, and implanting his ... in her, succesfully, and for many years after repeated behaviour it was unknown why she never fell pregnent, its no known tht she is infertile, but bong-su is a very healthy male, very fertile indeed.

30-06-2006

Yes Patrick the mz exhibit is inter-connecting so all animals can be together or separated. The talk on AI is about sex selection. And yes Tarongas exhibit has not been planned very well if they have to revert to PC management its a breeding nightmare.
Zoo Boy for many years the mz ele keepers were suggesting that BS ..... was to small. Now they have deemed MK not suitable to breed because of her age it is to late to start. They do not know that she was infertile before. As many females at her age who have never concieved reproductive organs will shut down and they become infertile. Eles when breeding it is not enough for the male to just get inside the female it has to go in along way. As I stated in an earlier post we have inexperienced males that are being taught to mate alot of the time they do enter but it is not far enough or for long enough.

30-06-2006

woaah, is it just me or is it getting hot in here?

30-06-2006

No its not just you getting hot Pat, But I wondered how it was done, gee looks like we lean something everyday, wow.

30-06-2006

thanks mark. make me sound like a pervert.

30-06-2006

HEHE hehe

30-06-2006

come on guys, back to elephanst and not your undying perfection to each other...

now when i was in tarongas barn, i never saw any crush like facilities, were i no melbourne has a very comprehensive set out side

30-06-2006

Yeah, I think the zoo bosses at Taronga should sit back and have a bit of a rethink about where they are going with this elephant plan of theirs, I would sergest that they enlarge the new Elephant exhibit enough to house TWO bulls (each with there own yerd and night house, and with inter-connecting yards (to the cows) or if not ship the new imports out to dubbo, also in the mean time look at bringing in a MORE mature male around 18-20 years of age from another overseas zoo so we can kick start a breeding program NOW.

30-06-2006

Well, i beleive that before to long, the eles will be at dubbo, and i carnt wait, even the zoos themselves said they have backup plans ready to go if the lawsuit didnt work, and the plans for the bredding centres at dubbo and werribee are ready and mapped out. also did you no tht 1 year after they arrive, in conjunction to the law suite, the zoos will hget revewied and if not up to scatch of the trials dismission, the eles will be made to go dubbo and werribee, or even be taken of the zoos.

01-07-2006

Mark,

I think that if AUS zoos make an approach to an Indian zoo - Guwahati f.i. maintains 5 bulls alone - a surplus male elephant might be forthcoming. In Europe a current surplus exists for certain zoos with male offspring (f.i. Emmen and Rotterdam zoos, with several males at 8 years at a French zoo).

You would probably exclaim what with 8 years is too young. However, these boys have experience of their fathers breeding to cows which is a definite plus! Also, most are able to reproduce at 10-12 (allthough naturally that would not be occurring).

Jelle

01-07-2006

[quote=Michelle]Jelle
4. It depends on what you call a recent phenomenon. The beginnings of AI date back to the mid 1700's when a dog was artificially inseminated and successfully gave birth to 2 pups.

Michelle,

4a. Please read the note once more regarding AI. AI has only been practised on the Asian elephants within the EEP by Jerusalem zoo. Thus I said it was a relatively recent phenomenon. Some zoos within the EEP have been given dispensation to try AI in the absence of a breeding age bull being present. However, this is certainly not the norm and zoos are encouraged to build bull proof facilities in order to be able to maintain active breeding groups.

4b. As to the status of the breeding programme in the EEP: it has 22 proven bulls,3 older range males yet to be tested and 2 older range males proven but not having access to a breeding herd at present. In addition 3 young captive-bred males are just reaching sexual maturity and are expected to augment the breeding potential. Yes, sometimes new young adult females need yetl to be imported (as with Koln Zoo recently - 2 cows ex Burma), but 54 breeding females currently make up the population. Plus another 33 females with good potential for breeding (most now have access to a proven bull(s)). For a zoo programme that in 1990 was almost non-existent that is some great achievement.

Jelle

01-07-2006

Yes I agree with what you are saying Jelle in regards to a major step forward from 1990, sooner would have been better, but, better late than never. I really wish our major zoos would bring in a couple of yonger bulls for the so called breeding program, If it was up to me I would have them here a.s.a.p. but my hands are not on the wheel, I can only hope our zoo leaders have enough IQ to work this one out for themsevles as I feel they may not be listering to hard to anyone at all, I hope I am wrong. another problem in our region is the lack of zoos which mean our zoos have to be even more focused.

07-07-2006

Mark,

What is the current plan for breeding Asian elephants? Just, Melbourne, Taronga and Perth to maintain+breed the species?

What about the Auckland females? Are these included also in a future breeding plan?

Any further zoos that might be involved in the project along the line (further imports and also more breeding bulls)? Can Monarto, Werribee or Mareeba become involved in this effort?

Jelle


Regarding focus, I think the Ozzie zoos should seriously look into the issue of thinking about future relocation of surplus offspring now (f.i. all male locations are springing up in Europe to accommodate the growing number of bulls in zoos. If no bachelor holdings were forthcoming that would have been a real management nightmare and sometimes still is).

07-07-2006

Jelle, As far as I know they are the only three zoos here at his point that have plans breeding Elephants, to tell you the truth I am finding it hard to follow what they are doing here with many of the animals we hold in our zoos, as alreadly said on here the baby male going to Taronga is only very young and will be some time before he can be put into a breeding program?.As far as the two females in Auckland zoo are concerned I wish I knew, I think Nigel is looking into that, he maybe contacting that zoo. I am not sure what Australia zoo is planning in regards to Elephants as its very hard to find out what their plans are there, the three females they have are almost 50 and are leased to them. There are a number of species here being phased out of our collections and with an import ban on birds now and I think on hoofed stock as well the number of species being held now is likey to drop somewhat to an all time low. ( good thinking by zoo mangerment). I have no idea where we are going Jelle????.