Will there be a third female breeder at Dublin before long or is it within EEP policy to stick with 2 breeding females and a visiting bull for breeding.
That's great news When Hussein comes, will the breeding be in contact with the herd, or in pair with either Yasmin or Bernhardine for safety of the calves or some other reason? oh and any plans for Hussein replacement?
Hussein as one of the best breeding bulls in Europe would be a good choice! And there are two more of his descendants in the pipeline: Yashoda will calve ~ next month, Thura ~ spring next year. He is a handsome and calm bull and he becomes accepted by all his ladies. You´ll find some of my pictures of him in the gallery!
wow, thanks sitara didn't know about Thura, as like many other descriptions of him, he seems a calm bull now contary to when he was a young bull which was the reason why he got the name "Hussein"
May i correct you? His name “Hussein” has nothing to do with his personality and character. He was always a calm one. It was the reason, why the zoo-director and his famous elephant-keeper Karl Kock selected him as young bull. Kock was travelling in India and found him looking for an elephant bull near Mysore/Karnataka, tied to a tree with two other elephants near a road while their mahouts were resting. At this moment one of the large busses passed quickly with very much noise nearby with only ~1 meter distance. And Hussein? He did not bat an eyelid. The experienced keeper decided immediately in favour of him. You´ll find this story in the book of this keeper “Elephants – my life”, unfortunately written only in German.
Your right this source is much more reliable, than the previous article written on him on elefanten.fan.de, people in germany do seem to be very knowledgeable about elephants,
I don't think that the EEP has strict policies on this, it al depends on the situation. In this case I don't expect a third unrelated breeder to be added at the group as they will have a third breeder anyway in a couple of years (Anak) and this really is a family group, not onrelated young females being put togethern - why mess with stable family relations?
Is there any news on when about Hussein will go to Dublin yet? The herd has been there for a few years now, around the time interval they mentioned...
On another thread it was mentioned that Hussein will remain in Hamburg, and the stud book keeper is trying to find a suitable bull.
According to this article, the contractors were picked in Mrach, so work would already be underway or will be started soon enough. I haven't seen any construction around the elephant exhibit recently, I was only in the zoo 2 weeks ago. Perhaps it will start soon. Anyway, here's the article: Zoo plans home for new bull elephant - City News, National News - Herald.ie
I visited the Zoo today and work has begun on the Bull House. According to the notice it began on 1 November 2011 and should be completed in 20 weeks. It said it was a one storey bull elephant house. It is situated right next to the reptile house, blocking the exit, so the front door is for both in and out.
