North American African Elephant Population 2023

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Yep, it's confirmed in this article here:

The baby's dad is either Cali, who lives at the Omaha Zoo, or Titan, who lives at the Sedgwick County (Kansas) Zoo. DNA testing will be done to determine who the father is.

https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/indianapolis-zoo-expecting-new-baby-elephant

Obviously Zahara's been impregnated with sperm from both bulls; so it'll be a waiting game to see which's was successful.

Hopefully it's Titan, a first generation bull who's yet to sire a calf.
 
Jambo said:
Yep, it's confirmed in this article here:

The baby's dad is either Cali, who lives at the Omaha Zoo, or Titan, who lives at the Sedgwick County (Kansas) Zoo. DNA testing will be done to determine who the father is.

https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/indianapolis-zoo-expecting-new-baby-elephant

Obviously Zahara's been impregnated with sperm from both bulls; so it'll be a waiting game to see which's was successful.

Hopefully it's Titan, a first generation bull who's yet to sire a calf.
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I am SO glad to know the father is not Jackson however. FINALLY is all I have to say there!
 
Yazziel said:
But if it is Callee that would make the calf Jackson grandchild making it part of his already well represented line. Titan on the other hand is extremely genetically valuable with this being his first calf.
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true but Callee at least is somewhat genetically valuable on his mothers side Savannah. But yes, I’m really hopeful and praying the father of Zaharas calf is Titan!
 
Jambo said:
If Calee's the father though, Jackson will still be the grandfather.:D
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But Callee is at least somewhat genetically valuable through his mother Savannah. Jackson on the other hand is worth nothing to the population genetically. However I will be praying and hoping that the father is Titan!
 
John Marchwick said:
But Callee is at least somewhat genetically valuable through his mother Savannah. Jackson on the other hand is worth nothing to the population genetically. However I will be praying and hoping that the father is Titan!
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He still is quite valuable. None of his calves (besides Callee) have produced calves yet. It can be attributed to them still being all young; but some of his eldest offspring are really pushing the limits.
 
Jambo said:
He still is quite valuable. None of his calves (besides Callee) have produced calves yet. It can be attributed to them still being all young; but some of his eldest offspring are really pushing the limits.
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that’s not true either. His daughter Nadirah at Disneys Animal Kingdom is pregnant with her first calf that’s on the way too. And I still think it’s only a matter of time before some of other Jackson’s offspring become pregnant and have calves of their own like Kianga at Disneys Animal Kingdom. I agree some of his more older offspring are really pushing their limits, Jackson is hardly genetically valuable at this point.
 
John Marchwick said:
that’s not true either. His daughter Nadirah at Disneys Animal Kingdom is pregnant with her first calf that’s on the way too. And I still think it’s only a matter of time before some of other Jackson’s offspring become pregnant and have calves of their own like Kianga at Disneys Animal Kingdom. I agree some of his more older offspring are really pushing their limits, Jackson is hardly genetically valuable at this point.
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He has 10 offspring yes, but that's not enough to call him 'not worth anything to the population'. He still could contribute to the population; although I doubt he will. The population has a lot of diverse genetics; and Jackson is a founder too. So ten offspring's a decent contribution, but I don't think he's at the point where he shouldn't have any more calves.
 
Jambo said:
He has 10 offspring yes, but that's not enough to call him 'not worth anything to the population'. He still could contribute to the population; although I doubt he will. The population has a lot of diverse genetics; and Jackson is a founder too. So ten offspring's a decent contribution, but I don't think he's at the point where he shouldn't have any more calves.
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I disagree. If the African Elephant population wasn’t so mismanaged, there’s a ton of potential genetic diversity that if zoos would just USE, we wouldn’t need to rely on elephants like Jackson all the time. Jackson should NOT be having more calves, get other bulls with more genetic value to breed with like Titan instead of Jackson.
 
John Marchwick said:
I disagree. If the African Elephant population wasn’t so mismanaged, there’s a ton of potential genetic diversity that if zoos would just USE, we wouldn’t need to rely on elephants like Jackson all the time. Jackson should NOT be having more calves, get other bulls with more genetic value to breed with like Titan instead of Jackson.
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I think they've done better over recent years to ensure the wild born elephants are breeding, and genetics are being spread.

But if Jackson's the only option, than I'd rather him than nothing. Not all males are trained for AI, and Jackson's proven that he's a capable donor.

It's nice to see Indianapolis not using Jackson though, and looking for more valuable bulls. I didn't know Titan and Callee were trained for such a procedure, but it honestly should be something all bulls should be trained for these days.

It's possible that if Pate knew of the other pregnancies (and Callee being an option for the father of Zahara's calf), that maybe there has been some other AI's that have been done (with Callee's sperm) as well. That would equate imo.
 
Jambo said:
I think they've done better over recent years to ensure the wild born elephants are breeding, and genetics are being spread.

But if Jackson's the only option, than I'd rather him than nothing. Not all males are trained for AI, and Jackson's proven that he's a capable donor.

It's nice to see Indianapolis not using Jackson though, and looking for more valuable bulls.

It's possible that if Pate knew of the other pregnancies (and Callee being an option for the father of Zahara's calf), that maybe there has been some other AI's that have been done (with Callee's sperm) as well. That would equate imo.
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We don’t know how Dennis Pate knew of those 4 other pregnancies other than Zahara them using Callees sperm and Callee might not be the father there in Indianapolis Zoos regard with Zahara.

And you have got to be joking about management being better in recent years with African Elephants in the United States. It has been disastrous with zoos despite having breeding herds not actively breeding their girls, and Jackson is not our only option for artificial insemination for gosh sakes. These zoos in the United States like Pittsburgh won’t get bulls to breed with the eligible breeding girls they have and other zoos won’t move their bulls. Batir who desperately needs to have a calf ASAP at 20 YEARS OLD has never had a calf of her own and should’ve had 3 or 4 calves by now. Just because we have all these pregnancies now doesn’t mean the African Elephant population is still in a great position.
 
There are hundreds of reasons for breedings to not be happening, most of which we are not, and should not, be privy to. There is way, way more to it than a zoo choosing whether or not an animal should be bred, especially with a species of this size. Accusations and speculation do nothing to help. This thread should be for actual population updates, and celebrating births that do happen. Speculation goes here: North American Asian and African Elephant Populations: Discussion and Speculation
 
Jambo said:
That's why i'm suggesting there could've been other AI procedures involving Callee as well, which is why Pate has that knowledge. That's just a thought though.

Management has been improving. We've seen a lot of births at Ohama, and we have a lot more pregnancies on the way too.

I'm not saying Jackson's the only option for AI; but he at one point, he was one of the only options, which is probably why he was used for AI a lot.

Re. Pittsburgh, they've relied on AI in the past, so there's no reason why they might not undertake such procedure again. Of course, it would be rather difficult and expensive to do such a procedure on all of their cows; so it would be best if they imported a bull; but obviously there's no options right now within the region. I can assure you that if there was, Pittsburgh would have a bull.

Whilst we can widely agree that the whole population isn't in the right position, most of the facilities have improved and there are some good decisions being made. It is something to hold hope for.
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ok but this goes for you and me both, let’s move this conversation to the speculation thread like @TinoPup suggested. This is not the thread for this conversation.
 
According to @Kudu21 gave birth to her second calf, a male on February 26th, 2023 at the Dallas Zoo. This is what the zoo sent in an email announcement to him!

“African elephant “Mlilo” has given birth to a healthy male calf! From an email sent to the zoo’s mailing list:

We are thrilled to announce our African elephant, Mlilo, gave birth to a healthy, 290-pound baby boy on Sunday, Feb. 26. Both mom and baby are doing well.

The animal team had been closely monitoring Mlilo for several weeks as her birth window neared. Signs of labor started in the early hours of Sunday morning, around 2 a.m. Her labor progressed quickly, and baby boy arrived shortly after, around 2:27 a.m. With the help of mom, the little one was able to stand up within 30 minutes of birth and started nursing right away.

Zola, another female in our herd, supported Mlilo through the birth, just as elephants do in the wild. Elephants are known to celebrate the birth of a new calf in the herd, and Zola has really shown her happiness for our baby boy. The little one follows both mom and Zola around, and when mom needs a break, Zola watches him so she can eat.

Our baby elephant has already started hitting his milestones! He has begun learning to "tusk" the ground, a very common elephant behavior where they use their tusks to manipulate their environment. (Baby elephants don't have tusks yet, but they will start growing in at a rate of one to three inches every year.)

We’re giving mom and baby boy all the space and quiet time they need to bond with each other, as well as the rest of the herd. It is such a joy to welcome this beautiful elephant calf to our elephant herd!”
 
John Marchwick said:
According to @Kudu21 gave birth to her second calf, a male on February 26th, 2023 at the Dallas Zoo. This is what the zoo sent in an email announcement to him!

“African elephant “Mlilo” has given birth to a healthy male calf! From an email sent to the zoo’s mailing list:

We are thrilled to announce our African elephant, Mlilo, gave birth to a healthy, 290-pound baby boy on Sunday, Feb. 26. Both mom and baby are doing well.

The animal team had been closely monitoring Mlilo for several weeks as her birth window neared. Signs of labor started in the early hours of Sunday morning, around 2 a.m. Her labor progressed quickly, and baby boy arrived shortly after, around 2:27 a.m. With the help of mom, the little one was able to stand up within 30 minutes of birth and started nursing right away.

Zola, another female in our herd, supported Mlilo through the birth, just as elephants do in the wild. Elephants are known to celebrate the birth of a new calf in the herd, and Zola has really shown her happiness for our baby boy. The little one follows both mom and Zola around, and when mom needs a break, Zola watches him so she can eat.

Our baby elephant has already started hitting his milestones! He has begun learning to "tusk" the ground, a very common elephant behavior where they use their tusks to manipulate their environment. (Baby elephants don't have tusks yet, but they will start growing in at a rate of one to three inches every year.)

We’re giving mom and baby boy all the space and quiet time they need to bond with each other, as well as the rest of the herd. It is such a joy to welcome this beautiful elephant calf to our elephant herd!”
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Is her son Ajabu (yes I know he is only seven years old) the calf's sire or was it AI? I hope the father is not Jackson again, as I feel he sires almost every US African Elephant birth.
 
IndianRhino said:
The father of the calf should be Dallas' adult bull, Tendaji. He is about the same age as both Mlilo and Zola.
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Just confirmed with a conservation interpreter at the Dallas Zoo that the father is indeed Tendaji! How exciting for the African Elephant population, and for Tendaji who’s now a first time father! This calf is also fairly genetically valuable and hopefully Zola falls pregnant soon or is already pregnant!

EDIT: also the zoo posted confirmation Tendaji is the father himself! I don’t know if he naturally conceived this calf or not but I do know he knows how to breed cause he bred with Zola in the fall of 2022.

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