African Elephants in Europe 2024

Vimoto said:
Bumi suddenly died yesterday night in Rhenen Zoo.
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It is now known that he died of EEHV. The virus was known to be prevalent in the zoo's elephant group. Therefore, all elephants had been tested weekly for some time now.

On the afternoon of November 4, Bumi's behaviour changed. He became calmer than usual. At that time, it was not possible to draw blood to test for EEHV. Later that evening, he was found dead.
 
Does anybody know who is the father of Makena and Malik from Valencia? A bull from another zoo or a wild male? I know that the females were artificially inseminated.
 
Vimoto said:
Does anybody know who is the father of Makena and Malik from Valencia? A bull from another zoo or a wild male? I know that the females were artificially inseminated.
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If I'm correct, I think Kibo is the father of both calfs, but I'm not sure.
 
Xavier GM said:
If I'm correct, I think Kibo is the father of both calfs, but I'm not sure.
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I asked Bioparc Valencia and they said they don't know who is the biological father of the calves. After this I don't think Kibo is that. I asked my question here because I hope somebody knows it from the studbook or from the zoo where the father lives, etc...
 
I also have this question in connection with Zyqarri from Zlin Zoo. Does anybody know who is his biological father?
 
Vimoto said:
I asked Bioparc Valencia and they said they don't know who is the biological father of the calves. After this I don't think Kibo is that. I asked my question here because I hope somebody knows it from the studbook or from the zoo where the father lives, etc...
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Did the zoo had more than 1 male at the moment or did the females came to the zoo pregnant?
 
Xavier GM said:
Did the zoo had more than 1 male at the moment or did the females came to the zoo pregnant?
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The females arrived at the zoo very young in 2008 and the both males they had (Kibo and Jambo) did not get to breed. As stated in the zoo show “Cronicas del zoo”. Kibo just did not show interest in breeding even when he had sired offspring naturally before and no word on Jambo potential.

Kibo has passed away and Jambo was transferred out to another zoo. The zoo now has a proven breeder called Tooth but he arrived after both calves were born.
 
The females got pregnant by artificial insemination and it was not published who the sperm donors are. A few years ago, sperm samples were collected by wild bulls in South Africa and frozen, so it is possible the calves in Bioparc have wild fathers. It’s just a possibility, not confirmed though.
 
Now I’m not 100% sure as the translation was a bit off, but it would seem that Sweni at Magdeburg is pregnant! With the sire being Kando, of course.

Assuming this is the case, this is absolutely excellent news. Sweni is a very genetically valuable cow with only two surviving male offspring, and much more importantly, a successful calf for her will enable her to start a true matriline (and hopefully this one will be a cow), which will be good all around. Since Magdeburg doesn’t seem to be particularly keen on socially integrating Sweni with their existing cow, Mwana, her having a successful and healthy calf is all the more important to gradually build up the start of an appropriate social group for poor Sweni again.

While I fully realize that she was the “outsider” to the Wuppertal group, she was still very well socially integrated with the herd and did not suffer. However since her transfer to Magdeburg she has been housed either alone or with the bull Kando, a rather unideal shift in social setting… so I’m thankful that she’s gotten pregnant swiftly and will “only” have to suffer in inappropriate social settings for two years, total…

Given the time timeline of when she arrived and how long it takes to detect a pregnancy in elephants from conception, the calf could be due anytime between February and July of 2026, depending on how quickly she got pregnant.
 
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My understanding sichtbar a pregnancy is not yet confirmed. She has been mated by Kando and they are hopeful though.
 
Whilst my german is limited too, from what I understand watching the video she is confirmed pregnant - they are hopeful for a successful pregnancy.
 
I'm sure the whole video is them checking on the progress of her pregnancy which is still in the early changes to ensure everything is going well.

At one point the keeper says and I quote 'Kando has already covered Sweni, now we practically monitor how the pregnancy develops'.
 
Jambo said:
I'm sure the whole video is them checking on the progress of her pregnancy which is still in the early changes to ensure everything is going well.

At one point the keeper says and I quote 'Kando has already covered Sweni, now we practically monitor how the pregnancy develops'.
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The video is confusing on the one hand it claims there is a pregnancy, but they sort of deny it in the next sentence.... What they really say is basically the following: They have mated, so we are now regularly taking urine samples to see how the pregnancy is developing or whether there is a pregnancy....
 
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