North American African Elephant Reproduction

PSO said:
I have it on good authority there are 11 confirmed pregnancies with Africans and potentially a couple of more probablies.
Happy to say this was the kind of success we have been trying to achieve for at least the past two decades
Click to expand...
That’s really good to hear! Are any more calves due this year?
 
I see this hasn’t been updated in a while so regarding chances since this last update

Births: 18 year old Nadirah (Jackson X Donna) Disneys Animal Kingdom had a female calf named Corra born in December 2023. The father of her calf is 41 year old Maclean (Wild X Wild) and the calf was born through natural breeding.

New Pregnancies: Sedgwick County Zoo confirmed 4 of their reproductive females (27 year old wild born Simunye, 14 year old wild born Xolani, 14 year old wild born Arusi, and 13 year old wild born Talia) are pregnant all through natural breeding and are due in 2025. Sires have not yet been confirmed in these pregnancies but 13 African elephants are currently pregnant in the United States.

Sources

At least 4 elephants pregnant at Sedgwick County Zoo, herd growing

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...g3cn2Rb_hv95hoWiGwOLfxUui7M39JQOkEZwmg0sQ&s=1
 
John Marchwick said:
now that makes since. I don’t pay attention to Europe much. I know their elephant breeding is MUCH better than the United States.
Click to expand...
It would be beneficial to all if we all looked over to other regions. WAZA and all the regional zoo associations could not be operating successfully without global scale. In the last 2-4 years closer cooperation has existed between AZA and EAZA for an increasing number of TAG's and even at species level.

One thing that the USA really needs to sort is import/export bureacracy as it is counter productive to ex situ conservation breeding. Taking animals into the USA is far easier than exporting them out. Advice/Wished for: Darn sort it AZA with USFWS and other relevant departments (I guess Ministry of Agriculture more than Environment needs to loosen up).
 
Hyak_II said:
Just to second, San Diego's initial success has indeed been largely due to a lot of good luck. They lucked out with Mabu being a spectacular breeder, and in fact have done very, very little in regards to the reproductive management of their animals beyond tracking cycles. If they were genuinely concerned and proactive about things, their younger captive bred cows would likely both be on their second calves by now.

Mabu is just a super bull, lol.

Also Tooth and Musi are...not quite the same, in terms of behaviour. Tooth is a hyper dominant and somewhat aggressive bull, but a proficient natural breeder. He's very sure of himself and knows exactly where he will be in a given social hierarchy (the top). Despite his somewhat unpleasant attitude though, even socially savvy cows like the Wuppertal group respect him enough to be dominated and submit to him for breeding. He definitely did need to get a tuneup (which his wuppertal visit did achieve), as he was quite the ass before hand, though.

Musi is...not implicitly either of those things. He's socially stunted, for lack of better words, being equal doses of both socially belligerent and cowardly. He's also not yet proven himself out as a natural breeder, however he does at least seem to have the knowledge and ability to naturally breed a cow. Part of this is undoubtedly age (only being in his late teens, as opposed to Tooths late 20's), but while Tooth was receptive enough to socially strong cows not putting up with him being a bully, Moose just seems to have shut down and now refuses contact.
Click to expand...
@Hyak_II, can only fully second what you are signalling on bull Vus'Musi at San Diego. In fact, his mother is still in the breeding group. His presence creates tension and is not good for harmony within the group. SD-Zoo/WAP have wasted around a decade in elephant births. They should have gone from Mabu to another big 25-35+ adult bull that stamps his authority on the herd. I am afraid Vus'Musi is a hothead and an inexperienced bull that needs to be sent to a site with bachelor peers and perhaps a proven bull to see how things need to be done.
 
Considering his social upbringing he has had ample opportunity to see how natural breeding takes place after all her did grow up with Mabu but his time at Fresno seemed to have left him socially stunted as Hyak as stated
 
Some updates from the past month!

- 45 year old Renee at the Toledo Zoo gave birth to a male calf on February 17th, the calf has since been given the name Kirk.
(Toledo Zoo welcomes baby elephant and needs your help to name it! | Toledo Zoo announces name of elephant calf | wtol.com)

- 12 year old Omma at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo gave birth to a male calf on February 18th, the calf has been given the name Hondo.
(Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo fifth baby elephant birth | https://www.omahazoo.com/inthenews/posts/zoo-announces-name-of-fifth-elephant-calf)

- 34 year old Litsemba at the Reid Park Zoo gave birth to a female calf on March 8th.
(Elephant Calf Born at Reid Park Zoo, Reid Park Zoo | Reid Park Zoo on Instagram: the team has confirmed she's a girl)
 
According to a DAK Photographer, the second pregnant female is Kianga!

The DAK Guy on Instagram: "Auntie Luna and Corra It has been so amazing to have a new baby elephant on the savanna. How crazy will it be next year when there are two more babies? Both Luna and Kianga are expecting in 2025. I'll be praying that moms and babies do well during pregnancy and birth. African elephants are pregnant for up to 22 months. This is actually the longest gestation period of all mammals, which makes sense when we think about how big elephants are. A blue whale is only pregnant for 10-12 months, nearly half the length of an elephant pregnancy. Compare this to a hamster – those little guys are only pregnant for 16 days at a time! . . #WaltDisneyWorld #DisneyParks #DisneyWorld #WaltDisneyWorldResort #Disney #DisneyPhotography #WDW #DisneysAnimalKingdom #myaza #canon #shotoncanon #disneyanimals #kwaherini #kilimanjarosafari #harambewildlifereserve #disneysafari #africanelephant"
 
b_g_19 said:
According to a DAK Photographer, the second pregnant female is Kianga!

The DAK Guy on Instagram: "Auntie Luna and Corra It has been so amazing to have a new baby elephant on the savanna. How crazy will it be next year when there are two more babies? Both Luna and Kianga are expecting in 2025. I'll be praying that moms and babies do well during pregnancy and birth. African elephants are pregnant for up to 22 months. This is actually the longest gestation period of all mammals, which makes sense when we think about how big elephants are. A blue whale is only pregnant for 10-12 months, nearly half the length of an elephant pregnancy. Compare this to a hamster – those little guys are only pregnant for 16 days at a time! . . #WaltDisneyWorld #DisneyParks #DisneyWorld #WaltDisneyWorldResort #Disney #DisneyPhotography #WDW #DisneysAnimalKingdom #myaza #canon #shotoncanon #disneyanimals #kwaherini #kilimanjarosafari #harambewildlifereserve #disneysafari #africanelephant"
Click to expand...
Really good news considering she was really encroaching on the reproductive limits to have her first calf. She'll give birth next year at age 21, and my fingers are crossed for a successful birth and a healthy calf come that time.

Kianga's also very valuable through her maternal side, so this calf will be a welcome addition to the breeding program. I presume Maclean would be the father too.
 
b_g_19 said:
According to a DAK Photographer, the second pregnant female is Kianga!

The DAK Guy on Instagram: "Auntie Luna and Corra It has been so amazing to have a new baby elephant on the savanna. How crazy will it be next year when there are two more babies? Both Luna and Kianga are expecting in 2025. I'll be praying that moms and babies do well during pregnancy and birth. African elephants are pregnant for up to 22 months. This is actually the longest gestation period of all mammals, which makes sense when we think about how big elephants are. A blue whale is only pregnant for 10-12 months, nearly half the length of an elephant pregnancy. Compare this to a hamster – those little guys are only pregnant for 16 days at a time! . . #WaltDisneyWorld #DisneyParks #DisneyWorld #WaltDisneyWorldResort #Disney #DisneyPhotography #WDW #DisneysAnimalKingdom #myaza #canon #shotoncanon #disneyanimals #kwaherini #kilimanjarosafari #harambewildlifereserve #disneysafari #africanelephant"
Click to expand...
Amazing news! DAK is in great shape going forward with their breeding program, by next year they'll have four related, breeding-age cows and three calves on the ground relatively close together.
Personally my fingers are crossed that the sire of Luna's calf is Jabali rather than Tsavo, as comparatively Jabali is the much more valuable animal. I know he exhibited breeding behavior a few years back, but I don't know about Tsavo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top