North American Asian Elephant Reproduction

Nile Hippo Expert said:
While this is still quite sad, this certainly softens the pain a little bit with it being a male calf. Losing a male calf is bad, but losing female calf is significantly more painful.
Click to expand...
Typically I would be inclined to agree more, and I am at least partially greatful we didn't loose a female. However, I would say loosing any calf of Rozie's is quite the blow. Even if this calf was sired by Albert, Jake or Chuck, Rozie is entirely underrepresented and thus every calf she has is much needed added diversity to the genepool.
 
2025 Asian Elephant Reproduction update

2024 was another steady year for the population. While there were a few devastating calf losses, we still saw a number of healthy births. Given the current population circumstances, we are sure to see improvements.

There were 6 (3.3) births in 2024, including two stillbirths:

0.1 Abigail (Johnson x Lily) was born on January 28th at African Lion Safari

0.1 Olivia (Johnson x Opal) was born on February 2nd at African Lion Safari

1.0 Unnamed (Rex x Asha) was stillborn on July 21st after a miscarriage at the Oklahoma City Zoo

0.1 Kirby (Thailand x Shanti) was born on November 15th at the Houston Zoo

1.0 Jet (Jake x Jade) was born on November 23rd at the Saint Louis Zoo

1.0 Unnamed (UNK x Rozie) was stillborn on December 10th at Albuquerque BioPark

There are currently 4 confirmed pregnancies:

0.1 Rose-Tu (Hugo x Me-Tu) at Oregon Zoo is due early or late 2025

0.1 Achara (Rex x Asha) at the Oklahoma City Zoo is due in July 2025

0.1 Sundara (Charlie x Sally) at the Columbus Zoo is due Summer 2025

0.1 Phoebe (Motek x Warda) at the Columbus Zoo is due Autumn 2025
 
ZCChip said:
Is anyone familar with Oklahoma City Zoo's plans with Kandula and Bowie? Bowie is presumed to be the sire of Achara's calf to be born this summer. I would think Kandula would be more genetically valuable than Bowie?
Click to expand...
Back when Rex was alive I believe it was the plan for Bowie to breed with Achara (plus Kairavi and Rama down the line). Now that he's passed it's entirely possible Bowie has a reccomendation with Asha as well. Last I'd heard Kandula had no breeding reccomendation at OKC but that could've changed.

Both are of relatively equal genetic value technically speaking. Kandula has a wildborn mother, but his father is one of the most prolific sires globally, and Kandula has multiple half brothers breeding in the US already. Bowie is also a Calvin decendant, but further down the line, and his maternal side is extremely valuable and relatively low represented.
 
Frankie_number_1_fan said:
Back when Rex was alive I believe it was the plan for Bowie to breed with Achara (plus Kairavi and Rama down the line). Now that he's passed it's entirely possible Bowie has a reccomendation with Asha as well. Last I'd heard Kandula had no breeding reccomendation at OKC but that could've changed.

Both are of relatively equal genetic value technically speaking. Kandula has a wildborn mother, but his father is one of the most prolific sires globally, and Kandula has multiple half brothers breeding in the US already. Bowie is also a Calvin decendant, but further down the line, and his maternal side is extremely valuable and relatively low represented.
Click to expand...
We can likely expect Kandula to breed being the only surviving offspring of his wildborn mother. Rex just always had priority with Asha due to being wildborn himself, and relatively unrepresented.

I believe both Kandula and Bowie had a recommendation to breed with Achara, although it seems Bowie was the one who mated her this time around.

With two bulls on site it certainly gives OKC a lot of options. I would much rather them stagger the generations, ie. since Bowie has already been utilised, he may as well sire future calves with Asha, Kairavi ect. Then any future female calves born would be unrelated to Kandula who could take over as breeding bull in say a decades time; with Bowie either being transferred elsewhere or remaining on site as a mentor bull.

They may also look to align Asha's next birth with Kairavi's to create a mini cohort, circa 2028.
 
Jambo said:
With two bulls on site it certainly gives OKC a lot of options. I would much rather them stagger the generations, ie. since Bowie has already been utilised, he may as well sire future calves with Asha, Kairavi ect. Then any future female calves born would be unrelated to Kandula who could take over as breeding bull in say a decades time; with Bowie either being transferred elsewhere or remaining on site as a mentor bull.
Click to expand...
Keeping or even utilizing both bulls long term isn't really feasible. Any calves sired by Bowie would indeed be related to Kandula as he is Bowie's uncle (via Calvin), so him taking over one day in the event Bowie sires female calves isn't an option.

I went ahead and checked the most recent publicly released SSP doccument and Kandula indeed did not have a reccomendation to breed with any of the cows, not totally sure why this would be the case but it's anyone's guess.
If he's a viable breeder (given nothing has indicated otherwise), I think we can expect him to transfer to another facility to breed sometime in the near future. He's far too valuable not to breed, but I'm not sure OKC is the place for him when Bowie is already having apparent sucess there at a very young age.
 
Frankie_number_1_fan said:
Keeping or even utilizing both bulls long term isn't really feasible. Any calves sired by Bowie would indeed be related to Kandula as he is Bowie's uncle (via Calvin), so him taking over one day in the event Bowie sires female calves isn't an option.

I went ahead and checked the most recent publicly released SSP doccument and Kandula indeed did not have a reccomendation to breed with any of the cows, not totally sure why this would be the case but it's anyone's guess.
If he's a viable breeder (given nothing has indicated otherwise), I think we can expect him to transfer to another facility to breed sometime in the near future. He's far too valuable not to breed, but I'm not sure OKC is the place for him when Bowie is already having apparent sucess there at a very young age.
Click to expand...
Yeah your absolutely right. I've never been to certain as to why OKC have elected to keep him on site for so long if isn't being utilised breeding wise. Yes, they do have the space to accommodate him in the meantime, but it's not feasible long term. If he's not breeding, the only other value he would have on site is serving as a mentor bull to younger bulls, otherwise he may as well be at one of the bachelor/non breeding facilities.

Initially, his move to OKC was mainly explained as being for socialisation purposes where he could be grouped with Rex to learn how to be a bull. National Zoo obviously didn't have a bull on site, so it was a necessity.

I have wondered why Kandula has never breed due to his value. I'm hoping he can, but there's a possibility he doesn't know how to mate the cows due to his upbringing.
 
Jambo said:
Yeah your absolutely right. I've never been to certain as to why OKC have elected to keep him on site for so long if isn't being utilised breeding wise. Yes, they do have the space to accommodate him in the meantime, but it's not feasible long term. If he's not breeding, the only other value he would have on site is serving as a mentor bull to younger bulls, otherwise he may as well be at one of the bachelor/non breeding facilities.

Initially, his move to OKC was mainly explained as being for socialisation purposes where he could be grouped with Rex to learn how to be a bull. National Zoo obviously didn't have a bull on site, so it was a necessity.

I have wondered why Kandula has never breed due to his value. I'm hoping he can, but there's a possibility he doesn't know how to mate the cows due to his upbringing.
Click to expand...
It is definitely interesting circumstances. Bowie, at 10 years old when Achara's calf was conceived, certianly was not expected to breed successfully so soon.
As for Kandula's breeding ability, that is interesting as well given that he and Bowie had the same upbringing (AI birth, no mentor bull interactions as a calf). The only difference between them is that Bowie grew up alongside another calf, which could have been a pivotal factor here.

That being said, I don't think we can nessecarily chalk his lack of breeding to behavioral lacking. He may just as easily have a health issue preventing him from producing calves (Low-sperm count, etc) or even simply that the SSP didn't view him as a proper match for the facility's genetics. His move could've been just one of necessity to provide him with a bull mentor with no intention of breeding him there.

It is my hope that the latter is the case, and that we will see him being a canidate for a transfer in a few years when Bowie has matured more and would benefit less from the company of an older bull. If he is capable of breeding, then he likely is being retained on-site to provide socialization for Bowie.
 
Frankie_number_1_fan said:
It is definitely interesting circumstances. Bowie, at 10 years old when Achara's calf was conceived, certianly was not expected to breed successfully so soon.
As for Kandula's breeding ability, that is interesting as well given that he and Bowie had the same upbringing (AI birth, no mentor bull interactions as a calf). The only difference between them is that Bowie grew up alongside another calf, which could have been a pivotal factor here.

That being said, I don't think we can nessecarily chalk his lack of breeding to behavioral lacking. He may just as easily have a health issue preventing him from producing calves (Low-sperm count, etc) or even simply that the SSP didn't view him as a proper match for the facility's genetics. His move could've been just one of necessity to provide him with a bull mentor with no intention of breeding him there.

It is my hope that the latter is the case, and that we will see him being a canidate for a transfer in a few years when Bowie has matured more and would benefit less from the company of an older bull. If he is capable of breeding, then he likely is being retained on-site to provide socialization for Bowie.
Click to expand...
Bulls in captivity have conceived calves at much younger ages than Bowie, however usually with cows of a similar age, that they can reach and 'dominate' so to speak mating wise. In most circumstances, older cows would not allow a younger bull to mate them and he may not even be big enough to do that at that point. So considering Achara is a year younger than Bowie, it would've been much easier for him.

It's very possible too that Bowie was moved to OKC to also further his bull socialisation skills. Was he never grouped with Romeo at Fort Worth?
 
Jambo said:
Bulls in captivity have conceived calves at much younger ages than Bowie, however usually with cows of a similar age, that they can reach and 'dominate' so to speak mating wise. In most circumstances, older cows would not allow a younger bull to mate them and he may not even be big enough to do that at that point. So considering Achara is a year younger than Bowie, it would've been much easier for him.

It's very possible too that Bowie was moved to OKC to also further his bull socialisation skills. Was he never grouped with Romeo at Fort Worth?
Click to expand...

Bulls certainly have conceived much younger than Bowie, but given his lack of suitable bull interaction as a calf I'm sure some delay would've been expected.

To my understanding Bowie was never held with Romeo or Colonel (Or even other elephants period once he was seperated from Bluebonnet). As to why I'm not 100% sure, but Fort Worth has a unique way of grouping their elephants so it's not overly surprising from them.

I'm sure his move was at least partially motivated with socialization in mind, it wouldn't surprise me if the goal was for him to learn from Rex and Kandula before either moving on or breeding there. Obviously the former ended up being the case

Edit: I went ahead and found articles from when Kandula and Bowie were transferred. Each stated that both boys had breeding reccomendations at the time of their transfers. Evidently something came up between then and now which caused Bowie to be the more desirable breeding individual at OKC
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top