North American African Elephant Population

As far as genetic diversity goes that would be a losing straw. All three females are from Mabu’s line while their mothers and aunts could still produce a few calves with a new bull unrelated to Mabu.

They might be, but then it would have made sense to retain one or two of the park’s sons. That way if Vus Musi and Emanti were there, for example, all the cows would have a mate in the mean time.

 

And that’s why I said earlier I thought the park should bring in a new bull now.

 

Emanti is related to most of the girls there so there’s no way they’re mating him. As far as Vui Musi goes he already currently has a breeding recommendation at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

 

Last I heard they were still in the funding phase, I doubt they already begun construction. Do you have a source for this? I was watching the cam yesterday and I’m fairly certain the elephants were in the upper yard.

Just because Kubwa didn’t breed after that doesn’t mean Umngani, Swazi, and Ndula won’t. Cows are capable of falling pregnant well into their 40s and in rare cases, early 50s. Indianapolis didn’t have a bull on site and relied completely on AI which may be why Kubwa never conceived again. I’m confident Ndula and Umngani will be able to produce several more calves once a new bull is acquired. Swazi, like other pointed out, I’m skeptical about since it’s been nearly a decade since she last gave birth and she’s already 30+ which means there’s a possibility she will never calve again. I really hope that’s not the case!

Once a new bull is acquired, it’s very likely all 6 cows (plus perhaps Kaia as well, depending on when this occurs) will be given the opportunity to breed but Swazi, Khosi, and Kami are a priority. Ndula also should be bred soon due to her not having a daughter yet. Nisa and Kaia are probably least priority for breeding at the moment.

Anyways, we don’t have any confirmation that a new bull is coming to the park so let’s not go back down into a speculation rabbit hole. We’ve already done this with the Asian elephant threads and we don’t need to spam this one as well! If you have anything more to say, there’s a speculation thread for this kind of thing. Let’s try and go back to only posting news here.

 

It was thought that Moose would actually become the parks to breeding to mate with the daughters of Mabu, along with Umngani, and Swazi, but that was before he moved to Fresno

 

Right, I just don’t understand why not a single bull was provided to or held back by the facility. They’re the only ones reliably producing calves until recently.

 

And Umzuli; they both could.

Looking at representation three cows should have higher priority as soon as a bull arrives: Swazi, Kosi and Kamile. The other three girls would probably be breed later on.

 

and Swazis only daughter Qinisa is a priority too I would think.

 

Although maybe they just plan to continue Swazi's line through her daughter Qinisa..

 

Fun fact: the SSP gave Moose a transfer recommendation to come back down to the Safari Park a few years back to breed with Khosi and Kami but unfortunately that never came to fruition.

I don’t think there’s a rush on breeding Nisa, she’s only 9 and has many years of breeding ahead of her. Her half sisters Khosi and Kami, on the other hand, are several years older and should be bred ASAP.

 

Such a shame Moose wasn't welcomed back, and I agree as well both Nisa and Kya have many years of breeding ahead of them and the priority of breeding should go to Gani, Ndula, Khosi and Kami

 

Interesting, my friend who lives in the bay area of California often visits both San Diego Zoo's. He visited last month and told me that the elephants didn't have access to the upper paddock. Maybe this was just temporary.

Keep in mind, this is only the case in certain cows; not all cows can breed into their 40's and even 50's. Even if they can, there can be health issues and reproductive issues that can appear. There's only those very few cows that get into their 40's and have no health or reproductive issues whatsoever, and can still breed, although zoos are still very wary. I don't think there's been an instance anyway of an African Elephant cow breeding past 45...i'd like to be proved wrong though.

I doubt Kaia will be allowed to breed until she's much older. Her mother and older sister will both be still breeding, so there's no reason to breed her so early. I can see Qinisa breeding soon though, especially if Swazi fails to reproduce again.

 

Aside from staggering the births, having the priority females breed first would give the younger cows additional experience in observing the birth process and maternal care.

 

Most likely a temporary thing. They close off the gate between the two paddocks often for various reasons.

Well really any cow can be bred into her 40s as long as she is being consistently bred. Most captive cows aren’t bred very consistently which is why they aren’t able to conceive in their 40s, several years after their last calf. But if a cow is being bred consistently every 3-4 years, in most cases, she should be able to continue breeding past 40.

I feel like there is no major reason why Kaia wouldn’t be bred earlier on. They certainly have and will have the space once they renovate the habitat so there isn’t really a space issue. I hope they breed her as soon as possible so we don’t have to be anxious about her reproductive potential like we are with Khosi and Kami not breeding. That said, I do hope some of the older cows are bred and give birth prior to her doing so since that would give her a learning opportunity.

I agree about Nisa being bred sooner, I was just saying a few of the other cows are likely to be bred first since they’re older/haven’t calved in a long time. This would also give her another opportunity to watch and learn from the other cows about proper maternal care.

 

Although staggering the births in trios would be ideal, in the real world there’s no guarantee conception and a successful pregnancy will ensure - so your idea of allowing all six cows the chance to breed is probably a good idea.

I wouldn’t be concerned about Swazi’s age (1990), more the fact she hasn’t produced a calf since 2012. This is another justification to play the percentages by allowing all six cows to breed given her chances of conceiving are significantly slimmer.

 

Yes, I know her age is completely fine and falls within normal reproductive years for elephants, but the reason behind me bringing that up was because she’s past the age of 25. There are some instances of cows breeding for the first time at a young age and then going 8-9 years before having their next calf but they are still under the age of 25 upon the birth of their second calf meaning they’d most likely be fertile no matter what. However, not only has it been many years since Swazi last calved, but she’s also very much over the age of 25 so her fertility is really up in the air at this point. The longer they wait to bring in a new bull, the more they’re risking it!

 

Good point. Also, looking at the representation of the cows - Umngani has four calves (including two daughters), which offer an excellent chance of her line continuing, as well as no reason to believe she shouldn’t breed again (having last given birth in 2018); while Swazi by comparison has a son in a non breeding situation and if she’s unable to breed herself, the continuation of this founders’ line will be reliant on the reproductive success of her daughter. Hopefully a bull can be sourced soon to give her the best chance of breeding again.

 

Any idea what's going on with Bubbles? Antle's USDA inspection from last month is missing a lot of animals from the November inspection, including Bubbles. There's a video on instagram from last week, but it could be an old recording, or Bubbles could have been removed from the exhibitor's license.

 

I doubt they would put Bubble's on their instagram if she was deceased or has moved on...as you mentioned, they are missing a lot of animals, so it quite possibly is just an error.

 

You cannot just wait for the if as it needs to be a now in order to not waste the reproductive potential of all the adult elephant cows be they experienced or nulliparous.