Asian Elephant Thong Dee's second calf is due in November 2016. The father is Taronga Zoo's bull, Gung, who is also the father of Thong Dee's first calf, Luk Chai, born 4th July 2009. Announcement (May 2016): https://taronga.org.au/media/media-release/2016-05-12/another-baby-elephant-the-way-nsw-zoos Update (August 2016): All going well for pregnant Asian Elephant | Taronga
I thought it'd be good to have a thread for updates on the calf, through the final stages of pregnancy, through to it's birth and first few weeks of life, since it'll be one of the highest profile births of 2016.
Awesome news! Congrats to Gung and Thong Dee, their keepers at Taronga and Taronga Western Plains Zoo and to Jabiru96 on being the first to announce the birth!
Correct. Taronga, Melbourne and now Dubbo are the only zoos to have had successful births (although this baby was bred at Taronga).
The whole region is rather new to the elephant breeding programme. The first birth in Australia was in 2009 and there have since been further eights births (two more at Taronga, five at Melbounre and one at Taronga Western Plains Zoo). New Zealand is yet to have an elephant birth but Auckland is likely to be the first. I believe Taronga Western Plains Zoos tried unsuccessfuly to breed their herd of 1.4 African elephants. I'm not sure why they were unsuccessful, but I know 0.3 elephants arrived sometime before the 1.1 import, so maybe the orginal cows were too old by the time a bull arrived.
A real pity that Dubbo was unsuccessful with the breeding and also did not continue with Africans. I appreciate that there is a need for extra space for the now expanding Asian population (particularly the growing number of bulls), but a population of Africans would have better suited the grassland style of the open-range zoos.
I agree! I forgot to include that a male (David) arrived with the 0.3 African elephants from the UK, but he died at the age of 17. The 1.1 that joined Cherie, Yum Yum and Cuddles were called Congo and Toto. Congo was a proven bull, having sired three calves prior to his arrival at TWPZ.
According to the elephant database, the African elephants were: Male: Congo (1958): Arrived 1983, died 2000 Female: Yum Yum (1969): Arrived 1977, died 2010 Cuddles (1973): Arrived 1977, still alive Cheri (1974): Arrived 1977, died 2007 Toto (1968): Arrived 1983, died 1984 So in conclusion, when the proven bull, Congo, arrived in 1983, there were four cows of reproductive age: Toto (15yrs), Yum Yum (14yrs), Cuddles (10yrs) and Cheri (9yrs). Why breeding never occurred is a mystery???
I see he's already in with **** Tip (that's if she wasn't present at the birth anyway). I wonder how long until they introduce him to Luk Chai and Pathi Harn. Bearing in mind Bong Su was introduced to his son, Man Jai, when Man Jai was only a year old, there could be similar plans at the TWPZ down the line. Ideally, this latest calf would join the two adolscent males to create a bachelor herd. Does anyone know what progress (if any) has been made in breeding Tang Mo? I understand she has difficulty breeding naturally, but is there any physical reason she can't retain a calf if she were to conceive through AI?
He made his public debut today: Elephant calf makes public debut in Dubbo A naming competition is also currently being run.
I can't enter as I don't live in Australia but I especially like these Thai names if anyone wants to enter them: Chatri - brave knight Chet - brother Chok Dee - very good luck Thut - ambassador
The calf has been named Sabai - meaning Happy in Thai http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...e/news-story/2073361dae426d2671353151899155f1
Update: Sabai now weighs 220kgs! Sabai has been introduced to Luk Chai successfully. I wonder if they'll introduce him to Pathi Harn in the near future. They'll have to be certain Porntip is not in season if they plan to do any reintroductions of Pathi Harn. Maybe they're hoping Luk Chai will breed with Porntip. While a founder (Gung, Bong Su or Putra Mas) would be more preferable than a first generation male, natural mating does of course produce a more balanced gender ration than AI, which favours males seemingly.
At some stage another bull/s will be required for the Australian program to broaden the gene pool with only the two bulls successful to date (not including the calf sired by Perth zoos bull). There are a few European zoos with excess young bulls that perhaps could be sourced maybe a swap for some of the young bulls bred in oz?