Taronga Zoo's elephant Pak Boon is due in November this year after a natural mating with their bull elephant Gung. It would be great if she had a girl as Taronga's other two elephant births: Luk Chai (July 2009) and Pathi Harn (March 2010) were both boys. If Pak Boon's calf was female, it would remain with it's mother and the rest of the herd for life, as she would in the wild. This would be a first for both the herd and Taronga Zoo.
As Gung has a son we definately need some girls. Fingers crossed. Any news on the fourth cow becoming pregnant soon?
Another female would be great! Kulab's calf at Melbourne was done by A.I so it is very likely that it will be male. Hopefully Pak Boon's the a female.
I was thinking the same thing, Tang Mo is now 11 years old and there is still no talk about breeding her. I'm surprised they haven't already. Even if she got pregnant tommorrow, by the time her calf is born in 22 months time, the other three calves will be much older.
is this another one of your blind guesses or hopes phrased as fact, or is it something you've read in a Taronga Zoo release?
What would we do without Sheldon? It's fact from : Elephant Birth Info - Taronga Conservation Society Australia 15. Will there be room at the Zoo for the elephants and their calves? The elephant barn and paddocks were designed using international standards and can accommodate four elephant cows and four calves, but we won't have that many for some years to come. As part of the program female calves will stay with their mothers for life just as they would naturally. Male calves will move from the main herd as they mature. This movement of young males is also part of the normal natural lifecycle and space will be provided for them at other Zoo's who will participate in the breeding program.
thanks. That's good enough for me. Links and references always help with initial posts so they can be gauged for accuracy.
To public knowledge, Kulab is the only pregnant female elephant at Melbourne Zoo, she's due around October-November 2010, about the same time as Pak Boon. Meanwhile, I have news from Taronga Zoo regarding Tang Mo (via email). They are very keen to breed her now that they know Luk Chai and Pathi Harn will be leaving the zoo in the future. If in the unpresedented sistuation, all four cows had delivered female calves there would be an accomodation issue in the future. Details are being finalised regarding the sistuation. Reading between the lines on the email, it suggests Tang Mo is in the early stages of pregnancy but this will not be publicly announced until her fifth month. Nobody should take this as fact, as it has not been put on the website (which can be taken as Gospel).
If its not confirmed then why post something which the zoo may not have wanted in the public domain at this moment in time if its true?
Yeah, it's going well for Australia at the moment, hopefully Melbourne Zoo will breed with their youngest elephant soon. There's also Auckland Zoo's plans to import some elephants in the next few years so maybe some of these zoo's will supply them. I know Auckland Zoo stated it's first female elephant would most likely come from Europe. Taronga Zoo has a rule where female calves remain with the herd for life but I am not sure if this applies to Melbourne too? Perth Zoo are currently trying to breed with their female Permai but nothing has happened yet...
I doubt all calves will be able to stay with their mothers for life, unless a few more elephant places open up and new animals are imported. Otherwise the elephant program could have a big pause in it. If the zoos want to keep breeding then animals will have to be moved, it's likely the boys at taronga will end up at dubbo, but let's hope there aren't too many more boys born. Dubbo is already at capacity. Taronga is heading that way snd I personally don't think that exhibit is big enough for 8 cows. Eventually they will have to be separated, or all of the girls moved to a bigger zoo if not. Unless of course we keep getting boys.
What they do in Europe nowadays(usually) is to keep female calves in the herd longterm. If the herd gets too big and there is an overcrowding problem, then it is split and part of the group, made up of one or more 'mother and calf' units, goes to a new holder Zoo. That way female calves do stay with their mothers 'for life', but not necessarily at the zoo they were born in.
You make a good point, this happens in the wild too. If Pak Boon has a female calf, and so does Tang Mo then this may be a possibility for the Taronga herd. Alternatively, if Tang Mo's first-born is a male, then Thong Dee or **** Tip may produce the first female (assuming Pak Boon hasn't by then). In the future, the two cow's with female calves may be located to another zoo and the other two cow's remain at Taronga for example.
I was wondering where Pak Boon's calf will be in the herd hierarchy if Pak Boon is the matriarch's Porntip's best friend?
That's a good question, I would imagine it would have a higher place than Luk Chai because as you mentioned, Pak Boon and Porntip are close friends. In addition, Pak Boon is currently the largest elephant at the zoo and is well respected as second in command to Porntip. While the herd accomadates the needs and protects the calves, the adult members are first in the hierachy so it would probably go like this when the calf is born: Porntip, Pak Boon, Thong Dee, Tang Mo, Pathi Harn, Pak Boon's calf, Luk Chai. While Luk Chai is bigger and stronger than Pathi Harn, it is evident he has a lot of respect for the younger elephant.
thank Axl. I began following the Taronga elephants since Pathi Harn was born. They seem so happy. Especially the youngsters. I hope Taronga sets up a webcam on the elephants one day.
A webcam would be good, I really hope things go well for Pak Boon in November. I'll never forget the morning I read the headline on the news: "Taronga Zoo elephant born alive after being pronounced dead two days ago" Before I was hoping that Porntip would have a female calf, but after that I was just happy he'd been born alive. It's always amazing to see the progress these elephants have made since coming to the zoo four years ago. They got some specialists in to do an analysis on their behiavour and they confirmed they had developed into a social, well adjusted herd. There is just one thing I don't understand: Gung's name. The females have names that have meanings such as "Blessed from Heaven" and "Golden" while Gung means "Prawn"!
