Asian Elephants in Europe 2024

Pleasant news! And also sensible, considering Sanuk is coming up on 8 years old now. However I must admit, I’m quite curious who the potential new bull could be. Thong Tai herself is quite a genetically valuable cow, as is Sanuk.
 
Would Sibu be a candidate? For coming from Dierenrijk to Natura Artis Magistra.
 
Genetically, potentially, he is unrelated to both Thong Tai and Sanuk. However he and Yindee are half siblings, and while she's most likely a non breeder, considering Nikolai was unable to get her pregnant, I have no doubt they would rather acquire a bull shes unrelated to, just in case.

Moreover, Sibu is of only modest genetic value, being a son of Alexander and Irma, he is related to many animals within the european population. Not to discredit him though, he is a large, physically mature, socially affable, natural breeding bull, and subjectively a rather nice looking one at that, so he absolutely does have potential to move elsewhere in a breeding role, especially for cows that would benefit from a bull such as him. But I would be equally unsurprised to see him end up in bachelor holding as well, as all those qualities also make him an excellent mentor bull for younger males.
 
Genetically, potentially, he is unrelated to both Thong Tai and Sanuk. However he and Yindee are half siblings, and while she's most likely a non breeder, considering Nikolai was unable to get her pregnant, I have no doubt they would rather acquire a bull shes unrelated to, just in case.

Moreover, Sibu is of only modest genetic value, being a son of Alexander and Irma, he is related to many animals within the european population. Not to discredit him though, he is a large, physically mature, socially affable, natural breeding bull, and subjectively a rather nice looking one at that, so he absolutely does have potential to move elsewhere in a breeding role, especially for cows that would benefit from a bull such as him. But I would be equally unsurprised to see him end up in bachelor holding as well, as all those qualities also make him an excellent mentor bull for younger males.
Thanks Hyak II for correction. You seems to be right.
 
Sibu may not be the best candidate genetically, but I guess he will indeed go to Artis. From what we‘ve seen in the last 20 years, genetics are often not as important as short transport routes and general practicability. Sibu needs a new home to avoid inbreeding with his daughter, and a zoo from the same country less then 2 hours away needs a new breeding bull, AND Sibu is a great fit being socially easygoing and a reliable breeder- deal done. I have no inside information but I am very sure Artis will get Sibu.
He‘s actually not that overrepresented in Euope, he has only 2 calves so far and a lot of his relatives have been exported to the US in the last years.
 
According to someone in an Artis Facebook group, during the elephant talk, they did not say which bull it is. However, they did say that it is a very friendly 20-year-old bull, which could very well be Sibu....
 
Hah, beat me to it!

I am very curious to see who the new bull will be. As sad as Irma’s passing was, in a way this will actually make things a lot easier for Rotterdam, as it seems like she was the main limiting factor on their bull compatibility within the herd.

Personally, I think Shahrukh from Szeged could be a good choice. At 16 years old, he is sexually mature and large enough to outsize the cows, and given the fact that Bangka and Faya are more socially affable, he likely won’t have any issues dominating them for breeding either. He was raised in the dynamic herd at Hagenbecks, and has been housed with a variable configuration of other young bulls and of course the grand bull Luka since going into bachelor holding, so he would likely also serve as an excellent mentor for Maxi and Rajik as well.

Additionally, he also has excellent genetic value, while he does have 9 other full or half siblings through his sire Hussein, there are only 3 surviving Hussein grand offspring. He’s also very valuable through his mother Yashoda, she only has 4 surviving offspring, none of which have any surviving calves themselves.
 
Personally, I think Shahrukh from Szeged could be a good choice. At 16 years old, he is sexually mature and large enough to outsize the cows, and given the fact that Bangka and Faya are more socially affable, he likely won’t have any issues dominating them for breeding either. He was raised in the dynamic herd at Hagenbecks, and has been housed with a variable configuration of other young bulls and of course the grand bull Luka since going into bachelor holding, so he would likely also serve as an excellent mentor for Maxi and Rajik as well.

Additionally, he also has excellent genetic value, while he does have 9 other full or half siblings through his sire Hussein, there are only 3 surviving Hussein grand offspring. He’s also very valuable through his mother Yashoda, she only has 4 surviving offspring, none of which have any surviving calves themselves.
This could very well be the case. According to Diergaarde Blijdorp's website, keepers will soon go to Hungary to see if a new bull could come to Blijdorp from there.
 
There are 3 bulls in Hungary that are candidates for Blijdorp: Assam (Budapest), Nuka (Veszprem) and Sharukh (Szeged). Assam is distantly related to the Rotterdam females and there is no need to move him out of Budapest so he is less likely. Sharukh would be a good match as Hyak pointed out, but the group in Szeged just got a new member (Arun from Budapest) and according to the webcam and the pics I have seen, they all get along pretty well so no need to move Sharukh out. Nuka from Veszprem is my guess- he is also an ok match genetically and socially, and I am not sure if they ever managed to integrate Bully from Copenhagen into the group. At least there have never been any pictures. If there are indeed problems within the group, transferring Nuka out may be the solution (and free up space for Chandru from Ostrava, who according to a news report from Ostrava will move soon).
 
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Very true, I debated mentioning Nuka, but ultimately laziness won out, haha.

Honestly either bull would likely be an excellent choice, both seem to be socially competent, and are fairly comparable in genetic value at the immediate moment. I would still say the advantage lies *slightly* to Shahrukh, based purely on the fact that he is two years older (which at their ages, can still potentially make a difference) and that he is likely to hold onto his genetic value for longer (Nuka has so many more relatives who are just at the start of their reproductive careers, as opposed to Shahrukh, who has comparably few). But once again, all just schematics and fun conjecture at this point.
 
Hi everyone,

This week, asian elephant Yindi (3) got a big stick stuck in her trunk. Zookeepers were able to succesfully remove it and it seems Yindi's trunk was not damaged by the incident. :) Keepers didn't see Yindi getting the stick stuck, but assume she inhaled it while playing.

If anyone's interested: you can watch a small video of the removal procedure here.

Does anyone know if this has happened somewhere before (or if it's common, even) or is Yindi just a clumsy little lady? :confused:
 
Hi everyone,

This week, asian elephant Yindi (3) got a big stick stuck in her trunk. Zookeepers were able to succesfully remove it and it seems Yindi's trunk was not damaged by the incident. :) Keepers didn't see Yindi getting the stick stuck, but assume she inhaled it while playing.

If anyone's interested: you can watch a small video of the removal procedure here.

Does anyone know if this has happened somewhere before (or if it's common, even) or is Yindi just a clumsy little lady? :confused:


I saw that a few days ago. She appeared to be fine. I think it just happened while in play.
 
It's actually quite common for young elephants to have all types of incidents with their trunk. The trunk is a very complicated structure so you often see young elephants struggle to let it function. Being overly eager during play or feeding or just curiosity can cause a stick getting lodged like this. Glad they could remove it without using full anesthesia.
 
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