I was in the zoo last week and i was speaking to one of the elephant keepers, he said that they were waiting for tests to come back to see whether any of the elephants are pregnant. He said that up to 3 of the elephants could be pregnant. My guess is that the elephants which may be pregant are Burhma, Jangoli and Sithami but not 100% sure. Anyone been to the zoo this week and had this confirmed?
Birma won't be pregnant unless Upali has had a change of heart in the last few months. Upali doesn't like Birma, so Birma lives seperate from the main group with Sheba.
Thats higher than what i`ve heard from the Elephant pregnancy test thats called Mick Jones,because he told me that he thought that Jangoli might the pregnant.
I thought this was the other way around, as Birma would not submit to Upali? But great news if there is 3 pregnant elephants.
I thought that Birma had already been mated by Upali some time ago, but wasn't thought to be pregnant(we even had a thread 'Is Birma pregnant?') I presumed Birma was 'rescued' from her solitary existence at Mauberge Zoo both to give her a better life and also to try and breed her before she got too old. Now she is just kept with Sheba, does that mean they are no longer including her in the breeding programme?
Birma was thought pregnant and was mated by Upali, however she has real problems submitting to him so he is very rough with her. They are still trying to breed from her, as Sheba and Birma are not constantly seperated from the herd, usually only around feeding times to makes sure Sheba eats enough and birma's there to keep her company.
Oh, thanks, thats interesting to know. The three possible pregnancies would be Birma, Jangoli and Sithami then? My guess would be possibly one is-Sithami.
Bit more information. Sheba has only one set of teeth left, which I believe she doesn't have a complete set off. So takes longer to eat hence her seperation from the herd, usually in the morning. I would argee there,
I would say Jangolie and Sithami, but I think the 3rd female is more likely Thi then Birma. Raman is nearly 2 so Thi could very well be pregnant again, and I believe that`s more likely then a pregnancy for Birma who is already pretty old for a first calf.
Yassa, you could well be right about Thi- she seems to have short birth intervals anyway. Jangoli is a very tall/big female- not sure if Upali could cover her properly yet, that would seem the only bar to her becoming pregnant again. Sithami has grown considerably since producing her first calf(Sundara) when she was still so young.. She isn't adult size yet but could well be breeding again now.
I thought they weren't going to breed from Thi at the moment because she has already had 6 calves. I'm guessing Sithami would be the most likely to be pregnant as she is small so being easy for Upali the mount, and they grew up playing with each other When i was visited last friday Sheba was seperated from the rest of the herd at about 5pm in the front right pen in the house. Birma was eating with all the other elephants in the rest of the area. Is Sheba kept seperate all night or just for feeding?
Well any calf thats born from the females? that may or may not be pregnant won`t be born to until 2009!
