North American African Elephant Population 2024

Yazziel said:
According to a cast member, Kianga’s pregnancy is a result of AI with samples from Maclean and a male from another facility.
Click to expand...

huh. Now that’s interesting cause Kianga had a breeding recommendation with Maclean and I knew Disney had been trying to naturally breed them. Lunas (and I can’t remember right now who posted it on zoochat) but somebody said Lunas pregnancy was not through artificial insemination. Nadirahs I know was through natural breeding, but it’s actually not surprising now that I think about it because Disney had been trying with Maclean and Kianga to successfully naturally breed for years and they hadn’t been successful. The father in her case is NOT Jackson (as Kianga’s father is Jackson), and we can also excuse Callee because that’s another Jackson relative and Kianga’s half brother.

That being said, I’m glad Disney resulted to AI if it meant Kianga wasn’t getting pregnant naturally. Hopefully though in the future with her next calf, Kianga can get naturally pregnant from breeding Maclean. And I’m gonna hope none the less that the father of Kianga’s calf is still Maclean.
 
Mr.Ivory said:
The two real options I can think of are Maclean through AI or natural breeding for Titan through AI, and if we're lucky a calf sired by Ali or Sdudla through AI
Click to expand...
Titain would also be a great option, he only has two calves thus far and is wild born. As long as it's not Mabu (doubtful since hes so prolific and hasn't been used for AI before) then any potential sires are equally preferable.
 
Titan is from the same very small Swaziland population like Mabu that originated from only a dozend or so elephants brought in from Kruger in the 90‘th. It‘s very likely that most elephants from the 2 Swaziland imports are related - Titan may very well be Mabu‘s brother or nephew….
 
Yassa said:
Titan is from the same very small Swaziland population like Mabu that originated from only a dozend or so elephants brought in from Kruger in the 90‘th. It‘s very likely that most elephants from the 2 Swaziland imports are related - Titan may very well be Mabu‘s brother or nephew….
Click to expand...

has that ever been confirmed or proven though?
 
Frankie_number_1_fan said:
DAK is truly leading the pack when it comes to what will be the future of breeding facilities. Two bulls onsite to breed, a fully integrated multi-generational herd, and the capacity to hold a bachelor herd alongside the breeding herd.
Click to expand...
I don't know if anything changed or if this information is wrong, but after Rafiki's death, Vasha and Donna stopped getting along.
 
b_g_19 said:
I don't know if anything changed or if this information is wrong, but after Rafiki's death, Vasha and Donna stopped getting along.
Click to expand...

That is correct, Vasha and Donna cannot even see each other according to the cast members (their keepers) but Donna has no issues with Kianga and same for Vasha and Donnas daughters and granddaughter.
 
b_g_19 said:
I don't know if anything changed or if this information is wrong, but after Rafiki's death, Vasha and Donna stopped getting along.
Click to expand...
I was moreso referring to Donna and her three daughters + granddaughter (who are a fully integrated grouping). Felt wordy to mention Kianga and Vasha's situation in there!
 
So how are those groupings working? The daughters and granddaughter go out with Donna and Vasha alternating? Not really important, just trying to picture it in my mind.
 
Truthfully, there's no point in keeping Vasha and Kianga at Disney once Kianga has given birth and her calf is a year or two old.

Donna offers an intact and compatible matriline of 5 cows with a 6th animal on the way, all of whom are potential breeders/future breeders. Disney could easily breed to their facilities holding capacity in short order if so desired, with zero need to worry about brining in a new bull for 10+ years, assuming Jabali is a natural breeder.

In turn, the Vasha line would make an excellent starter cow group for another facility (Baltimore, perhaps? with their genetically valuable Samson).
 
Hyak_II said:
Truthfully, there's no point in keeping Vasha and Kianga at Disney once Kianga has given birth and her calf is a year or two old.

Donna offers an intact and compatible matriline of 5 cows with a 6th animal on the way, all of whom are potential breeders/future breeders. Disney could easily breed to their facilities holding capacity in short order if so desired, with zero need to worry about brining in a new bull for 10+ years, assuming Jabali is a natural breeder.

In turn, the Vasha line would make an excellent starter cow group for another facility (Baltimore, perhaps? with their genetically valuable Samson).
Click to expand...

But doesn’t the African elephant population have a shortage of bulls?
 
John Marchwick said:
But doesn’t the African elephant population have a shortage of bulls?
Click to expand...
A shortage of proven bulls, yes. But there are more than enough bulls in general within the population that could, in theory, be moved around the accomodate more breeding facilities. While there is a question of generic variability in play (with several of the young bulls reaching breeding age being Mabu sons), there are enough bulls to go around (19 to put a number out there)
 
Last edited:
Hyak_II said:
Truthfully, there's no point in keeping Vasha and Kianga at Disney once Kianga has given birth and her calf is a year or two old.

Donna offers an intact and compatible matriline of 5 cows with a 6th animal on the way, all of whom are potential breeders/future breeders. Disney could easily breed to their facilities holding capacity in short order if so desired, with zero need to worry about brining in a new bull for 10+ years, assuming Jabali is a natural breeder.

In turn, the Vasha line would make an excellent starter cow group for another facility (Baltimore, perhaps? with their genetically valuable Samson).
Click to expand...
It would give them even more reason to send Vasha and Kianga to another facility especially if Kianga's calf is a male, and DAK as you've already mentioned has a well sized matriline to continue their breeding program
 
Anyone have any updates as of what ZooTampa's future plans are? Seems like such a shame that that so many cows who are all genetically valuable are having no effort (at least it seems) to be bred.
 
Jonathan Petersson said:
Anyone have any updates as of what ZooTampa's future plans are? Seems like such a shame that that so many cows who are all genetically valuable are having no effort (at least it seems) to be bred.
Click to expand...
Last I'd heard they were attempting to breed Sdudla to their eldest two females again. It seems to be a futile effort though, considering the amount of time since their last calves.
 
PSO said:
They have been trying to get the ladies impregnated for a while now, definitely not lack of effort. Some believe it's Sdud's, some the females. If it were my decision I'd switch him out. Change of scenery would do well for all
Click to expand...
Definitely. A new bull would be a win-win on all counts. Sdudla gets the chance to sire more calves elsewhere (spreading his valuable wild-born genes) and his daughters get the chance to breed at Tampa.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top