It is a shame that Yu Yu Yin isnt breeding, i suppose she is 30 now and has already has one surviving calf (Maxim 1998, Sevilla). Also with a smaller herd which can be kept together eventually May Tagu and Kai Mook could stay for breeding within it. When is it that this herd is to be transferred to Planckendael then or will they breed again before that?
For the info thanks to Gorilla Gust (my own words though - if you have critical comments don't address them to him!). There's a real Kaymook craze in Belgium these days. The prime minister has already visited the baby and the city of Antwerp has welcomed it as an official member of the city. There's also Kaymook beer, t-shirts, bonbons (hey, it's Belgium). If you want to see the first moving pictures in the outdoor enclosure (yesterday - one day earlier than announced) with Dutch comments - just turn your speaker down if it distracts: http://st1.stream-unlimited.be/atv/...=480&movieHeight=270&autoStart=1&playerType=2 Kaymook comes from the Thai language. There are rumours that this name was misspelled and should have been Khaymook and that Kaymook actually means chicken Anyway, what's in a name. We will call her Kai.
yep, found that it is a Thai name. From the actual sites of Pearl beach they call it Kai Mook. ( no high fin) I don't want the herd to be split up. Dumbo gets on really well with the rest of them, I don't see much point if they are just going to move all but Dumbo to Planckendael but hopefully they will bring her along. On another thread it was mentioned that Just Khaing, Yu Yu Yin, May Tagu ( and upcoimg calf) are going to Planckendael can anyone confirm this? What would Antwerp house with it's vacant elephant exhibit afterwards?
@ dragon(ele)nerd: two things ar certain: (1) The current housing is insufficient for a breeding herd and cannot be adapted enough to support modern husbandry for elephants (including bull stable). Therefore they want to move the breeding herd to Plankendael (same owner); and (2) In the new masterplan of zoo Antwerp elephants are included. It's a safe bet that the breeding herd will at least consist of: Phyo Phyo, Yu Yu Yin, May Tagu and Kaymook. Anything beyond that is pure speculation and depending on the situation when the time has come.
It is certain that Dumbo will go to planckendael. She is the matriarch ands she won't be left in Antwerp. They're planning that the entire group, Dumbo, Yu Yu YIn, Khaing Phyo Phyo, May-Thagu en Kai-Mook could be in planckendael in the new facility by the summer of 2011. So May-Thagu en especialley Yu Yu Yin could start breeding. If the exhibit won't get finished by summer 2011 they want Yu Yu Yin to get pregnant by AI because otherwise she will get to old.
I don"t even need to post here, i see that i have an employee for that. But i had a busy period, i did only inform my forum and my KMDAblog untill now about it. About Planckendael, it is now the plan to move the complete herd from Antwerp to Planckendael. Just like with the girafs, that is not a problem. Because the staff can easily switch from zoo, or work part time in both zoo's. They are very close. (30minutes+). Planning is that the exhibit will be ready in 2011. If you see the huge amount of people (60000 people has visit the zoo the last 4 days, there will be enough money for such a quick planning. Here are some pictures from the newspaper, according the crowd: Telenet Foto - Antwerpen:wee keer zoveel bezoekers dan normaal in de Zoo - Share your online photo albums - unlimited storage - upload photos - digital photography (for the record, there was also a company (union) that had a special day in the zoo, with 10000 people.) In planckendael they will build a exhibit for male's(1200m²) and females (11000m²) and stable's. (dutch comments on the picture, it is borrowed from my forum). You can see that it will come next to the last project, the Asiacontinent. If it is not ready in 2011? Then there is a lot possible, because the really want to breed with YuYu Yin.
Awesome as! The herd will be kept together, there are distinct plans to breed yu yu yin and the herd will be moved into a cool new exhibit.
Looking at the picture: if the bulls area (Stier) is 1,200 sq. meters then the barn (Binnenverblijf) also will be appr. 1,200 sq. meters. The 11,000 sq. meters for the herd (Koeien) looks very, good. Compare this with the 2,000 sq. meters in Antwerp!
The K. fonds for the elephants in Planckendael (for 2011), has released another picture: K-Groeiplan eBay-winkel Over mijn winkel
It's most likely that other females will also join the antwerp group right? Also I wonder which bull will come to Planckendael. Then again it might be a while, there is a big shortage of them. Quite a few are needed else where. One reason why Alexander is so popular! I think he's top stud now in europe. correct me if I'm wrong.
I doubt it. It's the meaning (is this the rigt English word?) of Antwerp to create a family group. So Yu Yu Yin, Khaing Phyo Phyo and May-Thagu an their children and later also Kai-Mook 's children and their grandchildren, that wy you will have a big family group without input of other elephants.
By the time when the Antwerp herd has moved, May Tagu is nearly old enough to breed, and 3 breeding females + the newest female baby who will then be a juvenile are enough for a family group. 3 females can produce a lot of calves within just a few years, no new females are needed to build up a large family. And bringing in new, unrelated females into an established group means almost certainly a lot of fights and stress which is totally unnecessary if you have already 3 breeding females and another female calf.
oh alright thanks for confirming, will be interesting to which bull will come to the zoo though. ( though it may take some time to locate a suitable one)
