North American Asian Elephant Population

Perhaps Rani will soon get pregnant again and give birth to a calf again in a few years and make us happy. RIP Avi.

 

Ft. Worth Zoo Set to Pay Record-Setting $2 Million for Two Female Asian Elephants from Canada | Dallas Weekly
Fort Worth Zoo gets two cows from ALS. It's probably Emily and her daughter. They are related to their breeding bull and cannot breed with him. Very good move. Let's hope Blue Bonnet gets pregnant soon, and maybe Belle.

 

I am surprised that this move includes this financial transaction. I wonder why it would not be a breeding loan.

 

Could be a transport fee, much like how Henry Vilas raises money on Giving Tuesday to bring in a new animal.

 

The money is probably for modifications to ALS elephant facilities. Charlie is getting ready to retire and the modifications will make the facility PC.

 

African Lion Safari is s private, profit-orientated business, and I would have been surprised if they had given female elephants in breeding age away for free. Female elephants in breeding age are so rare in the US that the few there are are worth a millions if dollars. The sale of individuals of an endangered species is of course against the ethics of the AZA and the SSPs, but hey, who can resist that much money!?

 

Agreed but creates a bad precedent obviously These programs only work long-term if zoos respect that animals in SSP programs are largely managed independent of ownership. Now I am not against maybe a little money for some elephants, but 2 million dollars from a zoo hurting during the pandemic is definitely a lot. After all the 3 zoos that imported 18 African elephants from Swaziland paid just 450,000 according to USFWS.

 

Dont get me wrong- I feel it is a horrible thing that an AZA zoo buys two elephants for two million (!!) dollars from another AZA zoo. But I am not surprised. Actually I never expected ALS to let go of breeding age females for free.

 

I'm not surprised either. Although for ALS to claim to be part of the Asian elephant SSP, while charging a million an elephant to fellow institutions goes to show you there values. And despite this, they still likely benefit from transfers from other AZA zoos, which I doubt charge them or if they do not insane prices. I hope the money goes to good use as, given the climate of ALS, the barn and outdoor yards are definitely not the best for a herd of 14/16. Especially since they will have to transition to PC.

Edit: Actually ALS is no longer AZA. I am fairly certain they were in the past. I imagine the ban on free contact may have played a part. They still participate in SSP though.

 

Asha at OKC is pregnant and due February 2022! Amazing news, considering Kairavi is still only a year old!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2760817230814410

 

This is great news !! But, what about Asha's sister Chandra, isn't she 25 or so by now and has no calves. Does this mean she is no longer considered a breeding cow

 

I do believe she is still considered a "viable" breeding candidate, however she will not stand for a bull. From what I've heard upon Rex's attempts to breed her she kneels on her back legs. Last I heard they were looking at AI however I don't know much about that. On the bright side even if she does not have any calves of her own, Asha is looking to possibly sustain OKC's herd for the foreseeable future. Yes having Chandra calves would be a nice addition, but its not a complete downside. She places a huge role in the raising of the calves and if her sisters history of female calves holds, then Kandula should have 3-5 potential breeding partners by the time Asha and Rex have aged out of breeding and he becomes their breeding male.

 

Absolutely excellent news! Fingers crossed all goes well and it's another little girl for the herd.

ABQ and OKC seem to mirror each other in terms of pregnancies, hopefully they'll keep the theme going!

 

Does anyone have an updated list of all Asian elephants in North America? I'd love to stay in the loop. Asian elephants are one of my favorite animals.

 

0.1 Fritha 1974-00-00 is dead.

It was posted yesterday on their Facebook page.

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Also, update from my last comment. I just realized I missed the 2020 list of Asian Elephants My bad, guys!!

 

White oak has finally confirmed that they did in-fact receive Ringlings Elephants

White Oak Welcomes the Largest Asian Elephant Herd in the Western Hemisphere - White Oak Conservation

 

Will be interesting to see which 30 go to White Oak and if there are still more than 30 at Ringling, where the other elephants will be placed. Hopefully this will be a positive move in creating a sustainable population of Asian Elephants in the US and cows will be allowed to have calves at more natural intervals than we are currently seeing in the US.

 

I can confirm there are 32 on property

 

Ringling’s retired circus elephants to move to conservation center

Had seen rumors of this for years, but it is great to be confirmed. The plans looking amazing and this will hopefully positively impact the viability of the population in North America. Even PETA is largely supportive of the move.

Just want to point out the complex will not be done until next year.

Edit: The article says "Now, there are 34 elephants at the CEC, and one on loan to the Fort Worth Zoo." Also says that several will live out their lives at the Center for Elephant Conservation.

 

Do we know how many calves have been born since they stopped touring?

Edit: I found an article saying the youngest is 8 years old.