Australian and ( NZ) Elephants news and discussion

While I agree bringing Putra Mas to Melbourne Zoo is the next obvious move, I think they should delay it another three years until Man Jai is over eight years old. Right now at five and a half years, he’s in the critical risk zone for catching EEHV and I’d be wary of introducing any new elephants into the herd.

Some of the birth intervals of the cows at Melbourne are getting ridiculous so as a priority, I’d say do AI with Kulab (last gave birth 2010) and then possibly Dokoon (last gave birth 2013); while Num Oi (last gave birth 2016) and Mali (born 2010) could wait to be bred naturally in 2022 without any major issues.

I don’t think Permai should go to Sydney as she’d be living with a matriarch who’s younger than her; and space at Taronga Zoo is limited. I think Auckland Zoo is the best place for her. She’d fit in well with their two females, and it’s doubtful their third elephant they’ve been trying to source for years is ever gonna come.

 

I admit Auckland is better for Permai. I wouldn't expect to move Putra Mas. Man Jai is an age when he could leave the zoo. And if we kept waiting for the calves to grow up, the elephants would die out in the zoos.

 

Man Jai is only five years old. While he is weaned and no longer dependent on his mother, he’s still developing socially and should remain with his herd for at least another 2-3 years.

Luk Chai (2009) and Pathi Harn (2010) remained full time with their herd until 2015, when they moved to Taronga Western Plains Zoo with their mothers. That then began the gradual process of separating from their herd; but even then they’ve had each other for socialisation, as well as opportunities to interact with the adult bull, Gung; their mothers; and their mother’s new calves.

If Melbourne Zoo were to export Man Jai, the only way he could gain such social skills would be if he was integrated with other elephants; which as outlined could potentially expose him to EEHV if carried by any of the new elephants he then mixed with.

There’s no need to wait for calves to grow up each time prior to the next birth. Simply wait until the calves from the previous bull (Mali, Ongard and Man Jai) have grown up - we’re two down; one to go, and then import the new bull. After Putra Mas is imported, there will be no need to import a new bull for many years as all females within Melbourne’s herd are unrelated to him.

 

Will this move happen at all?!?

 

Most probably. Man Jai is related to half of Melbourne Zoo's female herd and all the time there are unrelated founders in the region, is unlikely to be required for breeding at Melbourne Zoo (or anywhere) in the immediate or short term future. Unless the herd are imminently going to move to Werribee, the logical move is to import Putra Mas for natural breeding in two to three years. Integrating Putra Mas and Man Jai could be difficult and space at Melbourne is already limited; so once Man Jai is at an appropriate age to leave the herd, what reason would there be to keep him at Melbourne? Export outside the region (as was done with Ongard) could even be an option.

 

The paper version of the Herald Sun Newspaper published 2 articles today about the plan to move the entire herd of elephants from Melbourne to Werribee and went into detail about Werribee's 6 stage masterplan. The elephant sanctuary will be the last stage. I haven't been able to find any online articles as yet.

 

Here it is, behind a paywall: heraldsun

This is a short summary article as well. Melbourne Zoo is losing its much loved elephants

One last article: Melbourne Zoo Is Losing One If Its Most Popular Attractions

The new facility will be able to accommodate up to 15 elephants on 20 hectares (50 acres). From what i’ve seen a gondala and hyenas are also planned at werribee.

 

I hope that after moving to a large breeding facility will bring some bull (preferably Putra Mas) and start breeding. All cows except Mek Kapah could have calves.

 

Grand plans for Werribee Open Range Zoo - Star Weekly

An older article detailing the Werribee plans, including the intriguing news that the rhino retreat “will allow keepers to breed on-site”.

 

Is that all mod cons?

 

I can definitely see that happening; however AI will need to be done in the mean time at Melbourne Zoo if they want to keep their cows reproductively viable. Not breeding them for another eight years would mean an 11 year period of non breeding for Num Oi; a 14 year period of non breeding for Dokoon; and a 17 year period of non breeding for Kulab. While it’d be nice for Mali to breed soon, she could technically wait another eight years until she was 17 years old to breed (a similar age to Porntip and Pak Boon when they first bred).

 

Exactly, AI should be performed on all cows except Mek Kapah. Also in Mali, I would recommend it soon. All three other cows should really have another calf before moving.

 

Australia Zoo Welcomes Sumatran Elephants!
Four Sumatran elephant cows arrived to Australia zoo. But I couldn't find their age. I also didn't know anything about whether they wanted to bring the bull too.

 

The 62-year-old elephant cow, Saigon, the last Australian circus elephant, moved to the new Sydney Zoo. So far he lives with three Water Buffalos, later the zoo plans to get more elephants.

 

4 Gajah Dipinjamkan ke Australia,untuk Program Breeding
Some more information about elephants in Australia zoo.

 

Somehow this activity passed me by. Very exciting that an accredited zoo has imported young subspecific elephants. Hopefully this will lead to a concerted Sumatran Elephant breeding program in Australia. Especially with Weribee planning a huge new complex there is potential for a phase out of other subspecies in place of a sustainable Sumatran breeding program.

Now if only the EAZA or AZA had the guts to import bornean elephants the two most threatened asian elephant subspecies (I know bornean elephant taxonomy is more complex but still) would be protected with some sort of safety net... I know a zoo in china has the largest herd but CAZG zoos really dont have the trackrecord to inspire confidence.

 

I wouldn't recommend phasing out a breeding population of endangered purebred mainland elephants just to focus on a slightly rarer subspecies. That seems counter-productive to me.

 

Why would any zoo in Australia want to phase out its current elephant breeding program even if/when Werribee zoo build a new complex?.
Four female Sumatran elephants in Queensland are not going to fill any other zoo exhibit in the country in the near future

 

Im not suggesting an immediate stop, but a transition period. They are significantly more than "slightly rarer", there is little danger of Indian elephants going extinct anytime soon. To quote India Today "As per 2017's census of elephants, India is home 27,312 elephants accounting for 55 per cent of total world elephant population. The elephant population in Assam has increased from 5,246 in 2002 to 5,719 in 2017, but now faces serious challenge due to dwindling forest areas."

The island subspecies including sumatran are far more threatened. The population stands art less than 1700 in the wild declining at a stagering rate. "According to WWF data, the population of the critically endangered species drastically shrunk to around 1,700 currently from about 2,700 elephants in 2007" (Jakarta Post).

Im not even sure if this would be the right step, in an ideal world IMO zoos would stop focusing resources on megafauna and transition to primarily smaller taxanomically/ecologically important species where a little money goes a long way. But as long as elephants are the star attraction zoos make them, then I think this would be a much more important use of resources and space.

 

I can’t even see a transition happening. The import of 0.3 Asian elephants to Melbourne Zoo; and 1.4 Asian elephants to Taronga Zoo in 2006 was no easy task and cost millions of dollars. They are the founders of what has been a successful breeding programme and are the biggest draw cards of the Taronga and Zoos Victoria societies.

While the Sumatran elephant subspecies is indeed more at risk than the Indian subspecies, the cost to import would be huge and bring in zero financial benefits to the zoos involved.

To the general public (half of which can’t even distinguish between an African and Asian elephant), an elephant is an elephant and they’d be just as happy with the ones they see now. The attachment of the public to the individuals in our region’s zoos is not to be underestimated; and many would be upset to see them depart. The PR backlash of phasing them out could potentially be huge (and obviously detrimental).