Hey guys, I have seen a few things around about elephants and why don't zoos get all the circus elephants from Australia to be a part of the breeding program. The major problem is that this would eliminate the purity of the animals we have. Our elephants come from many different places. There are three subspecies of Asian Elephant(mainland; aka indian and Thai. Sri Lankan (tends to have more pink on trunk. and the Sumatran (like the rhino has alot more hair) and all of our circuses elephants come from many places. not all are the mainland ones and this would make for alot of hard work in trying to figure out what animals to send where. The Bullen's Girls came from Burma. Anyway, just thought I'd say that. The point of this was mainly to say I'm GOING TO SRI LANKA.. sorry, very exciting. I'll be living in Sri Lanka at the Millenium Elephant Foundation for the next three months caring for the girls there and learning as much as i can. This place is well nkown with a few of dubbo's ele keepers travelling there alot. Currently one of the consultants there, Sandith is in charge of the new elephants in melbourne, just till they get settled. So if there is anything you want to know about these elephants at the sanctuary or about the wild elephants let me know and I'll find out for you.
i was in sri lanka just before the tsunami and i can tell you jakari it is probably one of the best places in the world to see wild asian elephants. just don't expect many big tuskers - very, very few males on the island still carry the genes for tusks. the reason australias verys small circus elephant population is not part of the breeding program is not because they are from unkown or mixed ancestry so much as because they are all elderly and ifertile. cow elephant reproductive systems shut down if the animal hasn't had is first calf in its earlier years. melbournes older cow is infertile, but at 30, is still well and truly at breeding age. on elephant subspecies, there is still a bit of debate but it seems the consensus is that the all mainland asian populations are one subspecies, and the island populations of sumatra, sri lanka and borneo represent 3 more distinct races.however to make matter more complicated the sri lankan population, both wild and domestic, is heavily hybridised with indian stock brought over from the mainland. though i did notice they tend to be particuarly large, stocky animals, with much depigmentaion as you said.
