Colchester zoo » Colchester Zoo

Colchester zoo
05-09-2007

I have been looking at the website of Colchester zoo trying to find whats happening with their African elephant breeding program but apart from just saying about the odd baby being born there does not seem to be much information about there herd, I assume they only have the one bull? what is there herd made up of like the number of cows and number of babies?

05-09-2007

I believe the list of elephants I have for Colchester should be rather accurate:

Elephants at Colchester Zoo in United Kingdom

regards,

Dan

05-09-2007

Cheers Dan

05-09-2007

If you search the zoos site there is some info and news on the eles. Also i thought they had 4 females there(1 is apparently pregnant), 2 of them came from Chipperfields circus after the court case a few years ago.

06-09-2007

Colchester Zoo Elephants

M Tembo (breeder)
M Kito (born 6/12/2002 - mother Tanya)
M Jambo (born 15/3/2004 - mother Rosa)
F Zola (stillborn calf 12/2003, pregnant due 2/2008 or 3/2008)
F Tanya (breeder - calf Kito)
F Rosa (breeder - calf Jambo, under treatment for vaginal scarring/uterine polyps, prognosis no longer able to breed)
F Opal (no breeding history)

06-09-2007

So it looks like they only have one breeding female now

06-09-2007

Mark,

Do not despair! Both Zola and Tanya are good breeders. I expect that Tanya will probably be impregnated soon after weaning of her calf Kito (born December 2002).

Take for instance the breeding record for Tierpark Berlin female Pori. She calved in Aprl 2001 and her next offspring arrived in May 2007. So, a breeding interval of 4-6 years is not uncommon for them.

06-09-2007

I wouldn't be suprised if Tanya also gets pregnant soon!! Even though kito was born through AI...they may even thry that again.

Pori did actually have a calf in 2005 but she killed the little bull almost as soon as it was born. But they can have gaps of 10 years between births

06-09-2007

Zola and Tanya are the two original Colchester females (I believe from memory) while Rosa and Opal came from Chipperfields, together with the bull 'Tembo'. He actually featured in the secret video which was filmed and helped convict them of cruelty.

He has one calf by AI at Colchester, another by AI in Vienna, a third by natural mating at Colchester and another expected....

06-09-2007

Hope all go's well for this small group

06-09-2007

I've seen that secret video of Tembo beinging beaten

He is also has another AI calf born last year at Dresden.

07-09-2007

I wonder where the two bull calves will go. The paddocks have been pretty barren for a while now, its a shame they don't extend them. The mixed African enclosure is pretty awful in my opinion, if only they'd give the whole area over to the elephants.

07-09-2007

They can probably keep them for a few years yet. Maybe they'll go to a batchelor group at a Safari Park(like Chester's young males went to Belgium..)

08-09-2007

I saw some pictures of that zoo in Belgium, it doesn't look like much space for them at all. The Spanish safari park where the Rotterdam-born males were sent on from Port Lympne looks amazing though.

08-09-2007

Unfortunately, I feel many zoos have often offloaded their surplus animals without worrying too much about where they are going to live in the future.

In the past there has been a trend for surplus animals in UK zoos to go to Eastern Bloc countries where the zoo conditions are often quite primitive. Several hybrid Orangutans and surplus male Gorillas have in the past gone from the UK(sometimes from high profile zoos) to East European Zoos where they live in far poorer conditions, e.g. sometimes in regulation barred cages. Though the 'owner' zoo may initially check to see if conditions at their new home are suitable, later the animal(s) move on elsewhere to poorer conditions. By this time the original 'owner' zoo has lost any interest in their well being.

Now with surplus male Elephants, such as the two Chester calves, I think again the need to place them elsewhere is the chief priority- it then becomes a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' perhaps?