North American Asian and African Elephant Populations: Discussion and Speculation

Since there has been a lot of discussion and speculation in the population threads, I've created this thread to do all that here. Please try to post news & related things only in those threads and post any speculation and ideas you have about the populations here. That way the actual population threads aren't blowing up when there isn't any actual news. To start off, here is my speculation on pregnant cows at the moment:

Spoiler: ASIAN ELEPHANT

Current Confirmed Pregnancies:

Asha (OKC), due in Feb 2022

Likely Pregnant but not confirmed:

Rozie (ABQ)
Rose-Tu (Oregon)
Some of the Ringling cows (someone told me that some may be pregnant)

Possibly Pregnant (due sometime next year):

Rudy (Columbus)
Sundara (Columbus)
Jade (STL) (Maybe A.I.)
Maliha (STL) (Maybe A.I.)
Mali (Syracuse)
Val (EAF)

Maybe Pregnant (due in 2023):

Shanti (Houston)
Belle (Fort Worth)
Maharani (Smithsonian)
Jazmine (ABQ) (Maybe A.I.)
Priya (STL) (Maybe A.I.)
Lilly (ALS)
Rani (STL)

Unlikely but possibly pregnant:

Chandra (OKC) via AI
Kirina (Syracuse)
Targa (Syracuse)

Spoiler: AFRICAN ELEPHANT

Current Confirmed Pregnancies:

Claire (Omaha), due in Feb 2022
Kiki (Omaha), due in Feb 2022

Likely Pregnant but not confirmed:

Jayei, Lolly, Omma (Omaha)
All of the Sedgwick girls
Nolwazi and Amahle (Fresno)

Possibly Pregnant (due sometime next year or 2023):

Victoria, Savannah, and maybe Zuri and Angelica (Pittsburgh) all via AI
Christie and Zuri (Hogle) via AI
Swazi, Umngani, Ndula, Khosi, Kami (SDZSP) all via AI
Zola and Mlilo (Dallas)
Mikki (Louisville) via AI
Donna, Vasha, Nadirah, and Kianga (DAK)
Zahara and Ivory (Indianapolis)
Mbali and Matjeka (Tampa)
Litsemba (Reid Park)

Unlikely but possibly pregnant:

Kubwa (Indianapolis) via AI
Moja (Wildlife Safari) via AI
Batir (North Carolina)
Makena and maybe Tina (Montgomery) via AI
Lungile (Reid Park)

To be honest, I don't have my hopes up for most of these especially since the majority of them are via AI. AI's often cost a bunch of money and zoos don't have the money to keep trying if a cow doesn't get pregnant after the first couple tries. And most cows (especially the older ones) rarely get pregnant from AI and even when it does it usually doesn't happen more than one or two times.

 

I could see The Endangered Ark Foundation small breeding herd moving to Tulsa, which would give Tulsa decent sized breeding herd, but to get Sneezy's genetics into the population I would move him to White Oak which would allow him to have multiple offspring in a two year period and then move him back to Tulsa

 

I don’t think EAF will be sending their breeding cows away. I think Tommy may leave the facility soon as Whimpy is the only breeding cow he’s unrelated to and she’s now post-reproductive and his son Cameron Lee will probably also leave the facility when he’s 7-10 years old. Tommy and Whimpy’s daughters Val and Dori Marie can be bred to the facility’s other bull Obert. Hopefully Val and Obert have already successfully bred and she is pregnant.

 

Regarding Omaha I really am not too worried about them at this point when it comes to breeding there. Claire and Kiki both got pregnant (which I honestly wasn’t expecting) in addition I think Jayei, Omma, and Lolly are going to get pregnant and or are already pregnant. Sedgwick I’ve already heard about Ajani mating with some of the girls there and most of there’s just hit sexual maturity.

North Carolina at this point has been a disaster and I worry we could lose Batir as a valuable breeding female. I’m getting worried about Fresno too tbh. It’s been 3 years now and neither Nolwazi nor Amahle have had a calf. Dallas Zoo I’m a bit annoyed with them as I don’t think they have an interest in breeding them. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is probably the one I’m the most annoyed with. I wish they would get a bull already but I don’t think they plan on breeding them soon either

 

The Asian Elephant population on the other hand there’s real hope for. I’ve heard there’s a number of elephants currently pregnant across the United States. I have my theories on who some of them are.

1. The Oklahoma City Zoo has confirmed Ashas pregnancy and she’s due in February 2022.

2. Rose Tu I’ve heard and have seen photos and she does look like she’s pregnant. Granite the zoo has not confirmed this but they’ve had horrible luck with their elephants. Lily died of EEHV in 2018 which was a devastating blow to the SSP. Tusko died there as well as another elephant a year or 2 before Tusko. The Chendra had a miscarriage in 2019. I’m a bit skeptical with that whole situation so I’m gonna wait until I see it.

3. I know some people think Shanti is pregnant but if she is she’s in the very early stages. Shanti has a calf every 3 years I’ve noticed so her next calf will most likely be in 2023. Same goes for Mali and the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Mali has a calf every 4 years. So if she’s pregnant now she’s due then in 2023. Mali lost 2 of her calves a year ago to EEHV so I truly hope she has better luck in the future.

4. Romeo has been mixed in with Belle at lot and apparently he’s been actively breeding with Belle which makes sense cause Belle is 8 years old. There’s real hope for Fort Worth Zoos elephant herd as Romeo is a proven breeder and sired a calf with BlueBonnet this year. (Which is a big deal as I think Bluebonnet was afraid of other bulls). Rasha I don’t think at this point can get pregnant but I could be wrong.

5. I’ve heard Rudy and Sunny are showing signs they are pregnant and their calves are rumored to be due in the second half of 2022. I sincerely hope this is true cause both girls need to have calves ASAP. Phoebe is definitely not having a calf anytime soon just because she’s raising one currently.

6. Saint Louis Zoo for whatever reason I don’t think Jade or Maliha are pregnant. Definitely not Priya and I don’t think Rani currently is either. She had a calf in 2020 and then it died of some heart condition I think it was. Anyway I just haven’t heard none of their elephants are showing signs they are pregnant unlike Rudy and Sunny.

7. Rozie I know has a calf every 4 years and with her last one being born in 2018 I think @Animals R AMAZING! is correct and I think she will have a calf in 2022. The others I don’t know

 

If Victoria, Savannah, and maybe Zuri and Angelica are indeed pregnant the sire would most likely be Jackson for Savannah, and either Jeanot or Tutume for Victoria, Zuri and Angelina.

Makena and maybe Tina would be Bulwagi given the closer location to Montgomery

For Christie and Zuri I want to say Sdudla but I can't be certain

Swazi, Umngani, Ndula, Khosi, and Kami most likely Sdudla

Kubwa Ajani or Jackson

Mikki Jackson

Moja Jackson

 

We’ve only had 3 African elephant calves in the last 2 years (2019-2021) with one being born per year. With Asian Elephants we’ve had 7 born in the last 2 years (2019-2021). We did lose Ajay to EEHV and Avi at the Saint Louis Zoo from other health reasons but we still have 5 of those 7 calves still alive. I just don’t see how at this point the African elephant population is getting better in North America but especially In the US.

 

For AI, it could be practically any bull across the nation that’s trained for semen collection.

Actually 9 Asian calves have been born since 2019 (excluding ALS’s calves born this year). Ajay was born in 2019. Nelson, Avi, Cameron Lee, and Imke in 2020 and Winnie, Teddy, Frankie, and Brazos in 2021. But yes, all but Ajay and Avi are surviving. The African elephant population has a lot of potential with a bunch of wild born animals so let’s stay optimistic.

 

What facility were Cameron Lee and Imke born at? The AZA has wasted the genetic diversity these African elephants have. 5 years later after the Swaziland rescue and only Mlilo has had a calf which was also back in 2016. Yes Claire and Kiki are pregnant but it has me anxious. And unlike with the Asian Elephant Population, I haven’t heard there’s a number of pregnancies for elephants in 2022 aside from Claire and Kiki

 

1.0 Cameron Lee was born at Endangered Ark Foundation to Tommy and Whimpy and 0.1 Imke was born at African Lion Safari to Johnson and Lilly.

 

I think he could head to African Lion safari to mate with Emily and her daughter Gigi, or the SSP might move him to a bachelor facility

 

He’d probably go to a bachelor facility since he’s related to so many of ALS’s cows.

 

Actually Tommy is unrelated to any of ALS breeding females, but the reason why he might move to a bachelor facility is do to him family bloodline being well represented

 

Ahh, I thought you were talking about Cameron Lee. Sorry.

 

Its alright and Cameron lee is half bother to Natasha and uncle to her daughters and great uncle to Opals calves

 

Yeah and Natasha has the largest family out of all three matrilines. They’re supposed to bring in a male from Europe though, but I have no clue where George and Johnson would go. Maybe Denver?

 

I would prefer George head to Denver and Johnson to White Oak, and maybe send Emily and her two calves to Smithsonian in exchange for Tommy

 

That would be a great SSP recommendation, if only that could happen.

 

It truly would Emily is still somewhat genetically valuable and moving her and her offspring to Smithsonian would give them a larger herd and give Spike more breeding patterns other then Maharani, and later Throng Nhi and her daughter Nhi Lhin

 

Luckily Trong Nhi and Nhi Lhin should be headed there sometime early next year so Spike will have three females to breed with. Hopefully Maharani is already pregnant so that the herd can finally start to grow.