North American Asian and African Elephant Populations: Discussion and Speculation

Interestingly, colic can be a symptome of EEHV. It would be be interesting if they did a full necropsy on Scott and what the findings were. I‘m not saying he had EEHV too, but its not impossible.
 
Polar bear fan said:
According to a DM with the Louisville zoo, Mikki will not breed again “due to her age”. This may just be a social media response, but it sounds very possible that Fitz was Mikki’s last chance.
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That is a pathetic excuse, Renee at the Toledo Zoo is older than Mikki and Renee is pregnant and due with a calf in 2024. Mikki was born in 1985 and could easily have another calf.
 
Polar bear fan said:
According to a DM with the Louisville zoo, Mikki will not breed again “due to her age”. This may just be a social media response, but it sounds very possible that Fitz was Mikki’s last chance.
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I feel like that's just a PR response and should be taken with a grain of salt because things finally seem to be turning around in the SSP so not breeding Mikki again would just be a backwards move. As mentioned above, if Renee can get pregnant at her age, 10+ years after her last calf, Mikki should most likely be able to as well unless she has some reproductive issues that we don't know about of course. Now that we have a couple other options for AI donors, it would be really good for the population if someone other than Jackson or his sons sired a calf with Mikki sometime down the line. Another option I wouldn't mind coming to fruition is actually sending Mikki to a different zoo for natural breeding purposes like the Hogle girls but then again, Mikki's never bred naturally before and sending her to a different zoo will probably take a good amount of time to plan. Either way, I guess we'll find out eventually what they've got in store for Mikki!
 
IndianRhino said:
I feel like that's just a PR response and should be taken with a grain of salt because things finally seem to be turning around in the SSP so not breeding Mikki again would just be a backwards move. As mentioned above, if Renee can get pregnant at her age, 10+ years after her last calf, Mikki should most likely be able to as well unless she has some reproductive issues that we don't know about of course. Now that we have a couple other options for AI donors, it would be really good for the population if someone other than Jackson or his sons sired a calf with Mikki sometime down the line. Another option I wouldn't mind coming to fruition is actually sending Mikki to a different zoo for natural breeding purposes like the Hogle girls but then again, Mikki's never bred naturally before and sending her to a different zoo will probably take a good amount of time to plan. Either way, I guess we'll find out eventually what they've got in store for Mikki!
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I fully agree, I doubt that she’s done breeding. If they have any plans of continuing their program, it’s important that she calves at least one more time. And unless they mess around again, she’s got time for two more calves too. With the upcoming overhall, I’d imagine they plan to send her out. It may just be more of a matter of whether or not 53 year old Punch could handle the transfer once funding is acquired.
 
John Marchwick said:
That is a pathetic excuse, Renee at the Toledo Zoo is older than Mikki and Renee is pregnant and due with a calf in 2024. Mikki was born in 1985 and could easily have another calf.
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Different elephants become post-reproductive at different ages though. I do still think Mikki is able to have another calf, but this will have to be soon (getting her pregnant in the next five years). I agree with @IndianRhino about the fact that it was likely only a PR response and that breeding her again would be a bad move to the SSP.
 
John Marchwick said:
That is a pathetic excuse, Renee at the Toledo Zoo is older than Mikki and Renee is pregnant and due with a calf in 2024. Mikki was born in 1985 and could easily have another calf.
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Every individual animal is different. Please don't harshly criticize zoos for things that you know nothing about. There could be any number of age-related reasons that Mikki, or any elephant, would be unable to "easily" have another calf, and I think all of us would be better off trusting the zoos to make the best decisions for their individual animals.
 
Neil chace said:
Every individual animal is different. Please don't harshly criticize zoos for things that you know nothing about. There could be any number of age-related reasons that Mikki, or any elephant, would be unable to "easily" have another calf, and I think all of us would be better off trusting the zoos to make the best decisions for their individual animals.
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I know what the zoo said to @Polar bear fan and I was making a point how if they’re not breeding her just because of her age when we know elephants older than her have had calves, than yeah I find it to be a pathetic excuse. I just don’t think the zoo should stop breeding her if the reason is just because of her age. Now if it turns out not just because of her age, then that’s a different story. And like what @IndianRhino said I think it’s more PR response but there’s nothing wrong expressing an opinion about how you feel about something either.
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
Different elephants become post-reproductive at different ages though. I do still think Mikki is able to have another calf, but this will have to be soon (getting her pregnant in the next five years). I agree with @IndianRhino about the fact that it was likely only a PR response and that breeding her again would be a bad move to the SSP.
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why would breeding Mikki be a bad move for the SSP. She’s a wildborn, genetically valuable female who now has no living offspring.
 
John Marchwick said:
I know what the zoo said to @Polar bear fan and I was making a point how if they’re not breeding her just because of her age when we know elephants older than her have had calves, than yeah I find it to be a pathetic excuse. I just don’t think the zoo should stop breeding her if the reason is just because of her age. Now if it turns out not just because of her age, then that’s a different story. And like what @IndianRhino said I think it’s more PR response but there’s nothing wrong expressing an opinion about how you feel about something either.
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I've said it before in another thread, but it's so easy for us to sit here and be armchair quarterbacks. We don't have all the information on her health. She could easily have some problems reproductively that has reared it's head and we would be non the wiser. Let the zoo make it's decisions with it's animals and leave it to the professionals.
 
toxodon said:
I've said it before in another thread, but it's so easy for us to sit here and be armchair quarterbacks. We don't have all the information on her health. She could easily have some problems reproductively that has reared it's head and we would be non the wiser. Let the zoo make it's decisions with it's animals and leave it to the professionals.
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which is why I said if it turns out the zoo is not breeding her because it has more to do than just her age, than that’s a different story. But as of right now, all the zoo said and what they told @Polar bear fan was that they’re not breeding Mikki because of her age and to me thats a pathetic excuse when you have females older than Mikki like Renee that are having calves in their early 40s and Mikki is in her late 30s.
 
John Marchwick said:
which is why I said if it turns out the zoo is not breeding her because it has more to do than just her age, than that’s a different story. But as of right now, all the zoo said and what they told @Polar bear fan was that they’re not breeding Mikki because of her age and to me thats a pathetic excuse when you have females older than Mikki like Renee that are having calves in their early 40s and Mikki is in her late 30s.
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"Age" means more than the literal number.
 
John Marchwick said:
why would breeding Mikki be a bad move for the SSP. She’s a wildborn, genetically valuable female who now has no living offspring.
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IndianRhino said:
I feel like that's just a PR response and should be taken with a grain of salt because things finally seem to be turning around in the SSP so not breeding Mikki again would just be a backwards move.
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Nile Hippo Expert said:
Different elephants become post-reproductive at different ages though. I do still think Mikki is able to have another calf, but this will have to be soon (getting her pregnant in the next five years). I agree with @IndianRhino about the fact that it was likely only a PR response and that breeding her again would be a bad move to the SSP.
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@John Marchwick I was just agreeing with what @IndianRhino had said about being a backwards move to the SSP. He has told me before not to copy what he or any other member has already posted entirely word-for-word, so I was just saying the same thing, but in my own words.
 
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