Yeah, its is quite strange that they breed so well there. Also ive found this on their new enclosure and house...looks very impressive to me! Foster + Partners I would love to see Chang's farther in there.
Your right, it is rubbish! It will be great when we get the new house (hopefully) in the summer 2008. The only female breeding at the moment is Ida (Changs mother). An his father Chieng-Mai is 48 years old Sorry for the delay on the pictures of Changs family, but here they come: Chieng Mai Chieng Mai Ghandi (3 days old) Ghandi (3 days old) Ghandi (About 6 months old) Ghandi and Ida Ghandi and Ida (in the forground)
Are there plans to increase the number of elephants at Kobenhavn Zoo? Currently, just Chieng Mai en female Ida are breeding age elephants. For some reason unknown to me the matriarch India has never conceived (what is her story?). The Thai youngsters, male Tonsak (wildborn 1998) and females Surin and Kungrao (wildborn 1998) are too young to breed. Allthough females at 9 have been known to conceive ........ Toddy, any news on other elephants or breeding plans from 2008?
Cheing Mai is one nice bull! i actually hope they don't don't import any new elephants from asia. They should just try and source others in europe and the young females could even start breeding very soon.
I dont think that Inda (not India) has ever shown any interest in breeding at all. It's weird, but she allows Chieng Mai to come near the other females. One of the promblems with having to males at the moment, is that Tonsak and Chien-Mai have to take turns being outdoors. But when the new house opens, three outdoor enclosures will be built, meaning that all the elephants can be outdoors at the same time. The elephants currently living i Copenhagen are the herd that that will live here for many years, along with future babies. When Chieng-Mai and Ida gets too old, Tonsak, Kungrao and Surin will be they new breeding group. Their genes are very valuable, seing as they come all the way from Thailand. BTW, Copenhagen Zoo didn't "import" these elephants. They were a gift from the royal court of Thailand, to the Danish queen, just as Chieng-Mai was, 45 years ago. In an additional note, a large piece Chieng-Mai's tusks broke of this summer. Though he still have tusks, they are smaller and now they match in length.
Good pictures of Cheng Mei at Copenhagen Zoo. I still haven't worked out how a 'tusker' bull can father a 'tuskless' bull-Chang- though I know it happens and is a genetic thing. Anyone know exactly how the gene inheritance works for tusks/no tusks in bull elephants?
