Asian Elephants in Europe 2020

Has Sundara Hi-Way the Asian Elephant cow at Chester Zoo given birth too her 3rd Elephant calve yet? Chester haven't announced anything as of yet,so I'm worried that the calve was reabsorbed by Sundara,Stillborn or even worse Sundara Hi-Way died during or after the birth. I say this as back in 2001\2 Anna the Asian Elephant cow at Whipsnade Zoo died during or shortly after giving birth to a stillborn calve. However the one thing that keeps me positive is that back in 2018 Thai Hi-Way Sundara's grandma delivered her bull calve Anjan Hi-Way a shocking five weeks overdue.

If Sundara Hi-Way has followed in the footsteps of her Grandma Thai Hi-Waythis will be positive. I say this as Sundara's last calve Indali Hi-Way will be a couple of months older. This will decrease the Chance of Indali's EEHV relapsing. I say this because the longer the gap between Elephant calves,means that Indali Hi-Way will have some vital extra week's to gain anti-bodies from Sundara's milk that will help her immune system to fight against EEHV should Indali have a relapse of this devastating disease.
 
The Hedgehog said:
Has Sundara Hi-Way the Asian Elephant cow at Chester Zoo given birth too her 3rd Elephant calve yet? Chester haven't announced anything as of yet,so I'm worried that the calve was reabsorbed by Sundara,Stillborn or even worse Sundara Hi-Way died during or after the birth. I say this as back in 2001\2 Anna the Asian Elephant cow at Whipsnade Zoo died during or shortly after giving birth to a stillborn calve. However the one thing that keeps me positive is that back in 2018 Thai Hi-Way Sundara's grandma delivered her bull calve Anjan Hi-Way a shocking five weeks overdue.

If Sundara Hi-Way has followed in the footsteps of her Grandma Thai Hi-Waythis will be positive. I say this as Sundara's last calve Indali Hi-Way will be a couple of months older. This will decrease the Chance of Indali's EEHV relapsing. I say this because the longer the gap between Elephant calves,means that Indali Hi-Way will have some vital extra week's to gain anti-bodies from Sundara's milk that will help her immune system to fight against EEHV should Indali have a relapse of this devastating disease.
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Have you ever thought that Chester haven't announced it because she is not pregnant. Not saying that is the truth but unlike most people on here I know the damage speculation does so I only work on facts, but feel free to keep speculating as it keeps the staff entertained. Thi wasn't late but if you don't know what happened I am not going to say here as it was a off record chat.
 
Zoogiraffe Thai Hi-Way at Chester Zoo was overdue when she gave birth to Anjan. Chester Zoo publicly announced this information through their website,newspapers and even the documentary The Secret Life Of The Zoo that is a documentary on Chester Zoo that is aired on Channel 4 and on the channel's catchup site All 4! Zoogiraffe you clearly didn't see any of these public announcements that Chester Zoo released themselves. I'm sorry if I offend you but your clearly blind of the situation regarding Thai Hi-Way's pregnancy and Anjan's birth.
 
The Hedgehog said:
Zoogiraffe Thai Hi-Way at Chester Zoo was overdue when she gave birth to Anjan. Chester Zoo publicly announced this information through their website,newspapers and even the documentary The Secret Life Of The Zoo that is a documentary on Chester Zoo that is aired on Channel 4 and on the channel's catchup site All 4! Zoogiraffe you clearly didn't see any of these public announcements that Chester Zoo released themselves. I'm sorry if I offend you but your clearly blind of the situation regarding Thai Hi-Way's pregnancy and Anjan's birth.
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Bear in mind that the show in question has been known to claim species have never been bred at Chester before when they have, invent names for animals that have none, mix timelines up to make things more exciting/suspenseful, and say it's Christmas when it's high summer..... in other words, I'm more inclined to believe ZG in this particular matter than I am the show and associated PR.
 
The Hedgehog said:
Zoogiraffe Thai Hi-Way at Chester Zoo was overdue when she gave birth to Anjan. Chester Zoo publicly announced this information through their website,newspapers and even the documentary The Secret Life Of The Zoo that is a documentary on Chester Zoo that is aired on Channel 4 and on the channel's catchup site All 4! Zoogiraffe you clearly didn't see any of these public announcements that Chester Zoo released themselves. I'm sorry if I offend you but your clearly blind of the situation regarding Thai Hi-Way's pregnancy and Anjan's birth.
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Well I saw them but like SLOTZ I didn't believe them why would you believe a department that only does news that is cute and a TV programme that makes things up to make a story. If you want to believe what was put out be my guest you obviously know more than me as I have no contacts within the zoo.
 
Hedgehogs, stop worrying about Sundara. Elephants have a very long pregnancy and a couple of weeks ‚overdue‘ is nothing. Most calves are born 630-660 days after concieving but pregnancies of 690 days have occured with healthy calves.

Plus you never know if the due date is correct, it is often possible that the female concieved later or earlier. The hormone tests are not always 100% reliable (mostly yes but not always).
 
Hyak_II said:
Most likely she is a flat liner, or has some other hormonal/anatomical issue that prevents her from getting pregnant. I suppose there is a very small chance its behavioral and she won't let the bull breed her, but considering she grew up at Emmen, surrounded with a large number of same age conspecifics of both genders, plus many mature cows and and two different experienced breeding bulls, I would say the chances of that are very unlikely.
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Thank you, @Hyak_II, for an explanation as to why Ma Palai hasn't reproduced. Also, that would explain why she never had a calf during her time at Emmen when Radza was the breeding bull while her half-sisters Mingalar Oo and Ma Yay Yee reproduced successfully. If Ma Palai has a hormonal problem, could Dierenrijk prescribe her hormone supplements to maintain suitable progesterone levels during pregnancy, similar to the case of Emi and Ratu, the Sumatran rhinos, and Emara, the Masai giraffe at the Calgary Zoo? If Ma Palai is unable to reproduce, that would be a significant loss to the European population as she's only one of three viable daughters, and one of eight viable offspring, from Naing Thein. Hopefully, Ma Palai will eventually have a calf of her own but if she can't, I'm glad she will always be a supportive member of Htoo Yin Aye's herd.

In regards to elephants, what does the term 'flat liner' mean?

Hyak_II said:
Also in other news, 2020/2021 are both shaping up to be absolutely excellent years for the European Asian Elephant population. We should be expecting a minimum of 14 births this year alone, as the following cows are all pregnant or have recently calved:

Indra at Amersfoort due March (sire Maurice)
Kina at Amersfoort due September (sire Maurice)
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Indra's pregnancy was recently announced by the Amersfoort Zoo but when did the zoo release that Kina was also expecting? Regardless, I was wondering if Kina would also be expecting so I'm elated that Amersfoort will be welcoming not one but two new calves this year! Interestingly, Indra and Kina are both expecting their new calves around the same time frame as their most recent calves Yunha (March 2017) and Thabo (September 2017), respectively.
 
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Elephant Enthusiast is Maya the elephant cow at Chester Zoo infertile. I'm just wondering as over the years she's been paired with four different fertile bull elephants Chang,Upali and currently Aung-Bo. Despite living with all of these different bulls she's never conceived an Elephant calve. Can you please tell me the answer.

Finally I believe that Maya might have introduced the EEHV virus into the Chester hurd. I say this as years ago she resided at Chessington Zoo alongside one African Elephant. It's a well known fact that mixing Asian and African Elephants is not advisable,due to the fact that African Elephants carry EEHV and can easily transmit this devastating disease to any Asian Elephants that they come into contact with.
 
Your knowledge of EEHV is outdated and wrong. Both species of elephants naturally carry multiple strains of EEHV - Asian elephants too, not just in captivity but also in the wild. The Asian elephant calves in Chester died from EEHV1, which is a strain native to Asian elephants. So no, Maya did not transmitted the virus from African elephants into the Chester herd.

And yes, she is infertile. All female elephants become infertile if the don‘t have their first calf in their early 20‘th at the latest (which also means that Ma Palai is very unlikely to breed now and will very likely remain without offspring).
 
The Hedgehog said:
Is Maya the elephant cow at Chester Zoo infertile? I'm just wondering as over the years she's been paired with four different fertile bull elephants Chang, Upali, and currently Aung Bo. Despite living with all of these different bulls she's never conceived an elephant calf. Can you please tell me the answer.
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Yassa said:
And yes, she is infertile. All female elephants become infertile if they don‘t have their first calf in their early 20‘s at the latest.
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Maya is definitely post-reproductive as @Yassa stated. She was born between 1966 and 1972 (year of birth differs between sources). Maya was transferred from Woburn Safari Park to the Bristol Zoo in June 1986 and returned to Woburn in August 1987. She would have been between 15 and 21 when she returned to Woburn. Upon her return, Maya had her first opportunity to breed as the bull Luka had resided at Woburn since October 1986. To my knowledge, I don't know if Luka and Maya ever bred but nothing came of it if they did. Maya was then transferred to the Chessington Zoo in April 1990, and finally to Chester Zoo in July 1990. She would have been between 18 and 24 when she arrived at Chester and approaching the cut-off age to have her first calf. Maya then had her second opportunity to breed as the bull Chang had resided at Chester since October 1988. If Chang and Maya ever bred, nothing came of it. When Upali and Aung Bo arrived in May 1997 and September 2012, respectively, Maya had already surpassed the ideal age to have her first calf. Ultimately, despite having separate opportunities to breed with two different bulls, Maya never conceived and eventually became infertile.

The Hedgehog said:
Finally, I believe that Maya might have introduced the EEHV virus into the Chester herd. I say this as years ago she resided at Chessington Zoo alongside one African elephant. It's a well known fact that mixing Asian and African elephants is not advisable, due to the fact that African elephants carry EEHV and can easily transmit this devastating disease to any Asian elephants that they come into contact with.
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Yassa said:
Your knowledge of EEHV is outdated and wrong. Both species of elephants naturally carry multiple strains of EEHV - Asian elephants too, not just in captivity but also in the wild. The Asian elephant calves in Chester died from EEHV1, which is a strain native to Asian elephants. So no, Maya did not transmit the virus from African elephants into the Chester herd.
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@Yassa is correct. Both Asian and African elephants, in captivity and in the wild, have EEHV and carry multiple strains of the virus. It was once believed that captive African elephants transmitted the virus to its Asian cousin and Asian calves who came in contact with carriers were susceptible. That has since been proven wrong as wild Asian elephant calves have succumbed to EEHV. What is know about EEHV is that all elephants have the virus but some individuals are never affected while others are susceptible. The reason why this is has not been determined but scientists are making every effort to find out. Ultimately, in the case of Chester Zoo, the herd is susceptible to EEHV resulting in many of the calves succumbing to the virus. However, there is hope. Indali Hi Way overcame the virus through groundbreaking treatment, such as plasma transfusion and antiviral medication, and routine early detection tests. Until a vaccine is created, those techniques are the best line of defence against EEHV.
 
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Elephant Enthusiast,seeming that Indali Hi-Way survived EEHV does this mean that she won't contract EEHV again,or at least if she does her body will produce the nessery antibodies to fight against this devastating disease. Or at least if her immune system doesn't produce the antibodies she will get a milder form of EEHV and be able to be cured with only one or two doses of an injection. I sincerely hope that Indali has become immune to the virus and will produce offspring of her own in a few years. I hope that within the next two too five years Aung-Bo gets relocated to a different hurd of Asian Elephants. If this happens I hope Chester Zoo brings in another Bull Elephant so that Indali Hi-Way can produce offspring and live her entire life in the Hi-Way family hurd at Chester.

Also regarding Whipsnade's elephant hurd is the adolescent elephant Donna past the danger age of EEHV. If Donna is she distended to live her whole life at Whipsnade and even have calves of her own sired by Ming-Jung.
 
Thank you Elephant Enthusiast for updating me on the scientific side of EEHV and informing me that African Elephants don't transmit EEHV to their Asian cousins after all as originally thought.

Does this information mean that zoo's globally can now have Elephant hurds that consist of both Asian and African Elephants.
 
Indali Hi Way could have another bout of EEHV in the future. After recovering from her recent spell of EEHV, the zoo stated that Indali was in remission so it is possible the virus could become active again. For example, Baylor and Tupelo, two adolescent elephants at the Houston Zoo, have each had two or three bouts of EEHV. Each time the virus became active, Baylor and Tupelo had a different strain than the last.

Elephant calves are most susceptible to EEHV between one and eight years old. However, the oldest elephant to die from EEHV was 42 year old Kathy at the Niabi Zoo. Her death was a very rare occasion where an adult elephant has succumbed to EEHV. The oldest adolescent elephant to die from EEHV was 13 year old Kimba at the Houston Zoo. Since Donna is 10 years old, she should be safe from the virus but routine tests should be conducted regularly until she’s at least 15. By doing so, it’ll ensure that Donna doesn’t have a sudden unexpected bout of EEHV that goes undetected until symptoms arise.

You’re welcome @The Hedgehog. A great deal of research has been conducted in recent years and several of the suppositions made about EEHV in the past have been proven incorrect.

Zoological institutions should continue to keep Asian and African elephant herds separate as neither species would have contact with one another in the wild. For example, the Miami Zoo, The Elephant Sanctuary, and Performing Animal Welfare Society in North America have both species but the Asian and African elephants are kept in separate exhibits/habitats with others of their own species. On the other hand, the San Diego Zoo, Topeka Zoo, and Louisville Zoo are the last institutions in the United States that exhibit both species in the same habitat.
 
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Time for an update with doubly wonderful news!

Sundara at Chester has given birth to a female calf sired by resident bull Aung Bo just a few hours ago, and this is excellent news not just for the elephant population in general, but specifically for Chester, this birth is vital.

After the tragic loss of young breeding cow Sithami and calves Nandita (would would have been a future breeding cow for the facility) and bull calf Aayu in 2018, coupled with matriarch Thi being no longer allowed to breed due to age related issues, things were looking dire for the facility, with only one breeding cow (Sundara) left, especially when her only surviving calf, a female (Indali) contracted herpes in 2019. Amazingly enough, she managed to pull through with intensive intervention, and is now the first calf in fourteen YEARS to survive the herpes attack that seems to strike (and kill) every single calf born at Chester.

With this birth, Chester now has three breeding or future breeding cows, all in a cohesive, matriarchal herd. Fingers crossed all goes well for the new calf, and slowly but surely, that Chester will be able to rebuild its herd to the glory it once was!

In terms of the collection European population, this is the third calf born in 2020, and moreover, its the first female calf born this year as well. Nice!

Click here for more information and pictures/video
 
If everything goes according to plan, 7.5 and 6.5 year old bulls Kyan and Thuya will be moving from Amersfoort and Dierenrijk, respectively, to Visprem Zoo in Hungary tomorrow. This move will put Visprem up to four young bulls (the other two being 9.5 year olds Nuka and Felix), and surely offer these young males an excellent social environment to spar, play, and be the rough and tumble animals young bull elephants love to be!
 
Hyak_II said:
If everything goes according to plan, 7.5 and 6.5 year old bulls Kyan and Thuya will be moving from Amersfoort and Dierenrijk, respectively, to Visprem Zoo in Hungary tomorrow. This move will put Visprem up to four young bulls (the other two being 9.5 year olds Nuka and Felix), and surely offer these young males an excellent social environment to spar, play, and be the rough and tumble animals young bull elephants love to be!
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Already crated fo Veszprem Zoo yesterday.
 
Hyak_II said:
Time for an update with doubly wonderful news!

Sundara at Chester has given birth to a female calf sired by resident bull Aung Bo just a few hours ago, and this is excellent news not just for the elephant population in general, but specifically for Chester, this birth is vital.

After the tragic loss of young breeding cow Sithami and calves Nandita (would would have been a future breeding cow for the facility) and bull calf Aayu in 2018, coupled with matriarch Thi being no longer allowed to breed due to age related issues, things were looking dire for the facility, with only one breeding cow (Sundara) left, especially when her only surviving calf, a female (Indali) contracted herpes in 2019. Amazingly enough, she managed to pull through with intensive intervention, and is now the first calf in fourteen YEARS to survive the herpes attack that seems to strike (and kill) every single calf born at Chester.

With this birth, Chester now has three breeding or future breeding cows, all in a cohesive, matriarchal herd. Fingers crossed all goes well for the new calf, and slowly but surely, that Chester will be able to rebuild its herd to the glory it once was!

In terms of the collection European population, this is the third calf born in 2020, and moreover, its the first female calf born this year as well. Nice!

Click here for more information and pictures/video
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Great news, I hope she will be as successful in fighting the EEHV as Indali.
 
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