The male founder (Kampala) was bred at Honolulu in 1993. The older female (Nimba) was bred at Denver in 1990 and transferred to Honolulu in 1992 and the younger female (Entebbe) was born in 1992 at Honolulu.
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So about 24 all up from one trio, the holders should be importing there is no excuse now!
Agreed. Females can breed from 12-24 months and produce a calf every 15-18 months on average throughout their adult lifespan (circa 18 years). With this in mind, even four additional founders (2.2) would be a massive asset to the breeding programme.
Only Monarto and Altina seem to be 'actively' breeding the species too.
Auckland seems to be phasing their's out, and Orana's seem on the way out too. Not sure why Werribee haven't had any births in around a decade, but I believe all their current girls are related to the boys. They tried to acquire a female last year, but she was transferred out not long after - no idea why.
Auckland’s females are elderly. The briefly acquired a male a few years ago, but they struggled to integrate him with the other species on the savannah and he died without siring offspring. Auckland has no intention to continue with this species long term.
I only saw females on my visit to Orana last year and no births have been reported for a few years now.
As usual, Altina is leading from the front with regards to breeding; though it’s encouraging to see Monarto breed also this year (their fifth calf).
Werribee have five on display at the moment (2.3).
It’s good to see the confidence of all the elephants growing. It’s been a seismic change for Burma and Permai, who have lived all their adolescent and adult lives at one zoo and within small herds. I hope introductions can result in a cohesive herd of four (with breeding then following on from that with Pak Boon).
Hopefully there will be an update soon!
It’s gone very quiet of late. The focus appeared to be on integrating Burma with the Taronga cows (due to the promising signs observed; and due to the desire to support Burma in establishing as matriarch). They’d be working on integrating Permai, but at a slower pace for obvious reasons.
Conclusion: The ZAA badly needs some more waterbuck on import!
Are the Honolulu founders' waterbuck the defassa (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) or the nominate subspecies?
Australasia’s Waterbuck are Kobus ellipsiprymnus.
I can't for the life of me understand what's stopping them?
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I get kind of confused now, as it is not answering my question: My choice was between subspecies defassa and ellipsiprymnus ...!
I know there are other subspecies around in some zoos with adolfifrederici (Lake Victoria - SDWAP), crawshayi (Banguwela - not represented in US collections), Sing-Sing (unctuosus - Philadelphia as a former holding).
Orana’s are apparently Common waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus ellipsiprymnus.
If so, the Honolulu imports/Australasian waterbuck are also given the entire Australasian population descends from that import.
According to the North American studbook, the three Australasian founders (Entebbe, Kampala and Nimba) belonged to the nominate subspecies, K. e. ellipsiprymnus.
Nimba was sourced by Honolulu from Denver, from where two animals were also sent to São Paulo in the 1990s. Perhaps the Brazilian and Australasian herds are related.
Video of Pak Boon and Tang Mo in one of the waterholes:
It doesn’t appear Burma (or Permai for that matter) has been integrated with them yet, with introductions ongoing behind the scenes.
It doesn’t appear Burma (or Permai for that matter) has been integrated with them yet, with introductions ongoing behind the scenes.
That's a fair sided mud hole, It would indeed be wonderful to see all of them together sharing that mud
Permai's apparently terrified of the safari bus - so first step will be to get her to be acclimated to that, and consequently the main on display paddock. Her shy nature hasn't helped but I'm confident that once she begins to settle in better to her overall environment, naturally her reactions to the other elephants will be much more positive.
Considering it's now been over five weeks since the Taronga cows arrived, I was hopeful they may have begun contact introductions with them and Burma. Obviously this would likely start in the barn/off display paddock with one cow introduced to Burma at a time. With introductions then being assessed from there. I suspect (and hope!) we will have a further update on this sooner rather than later.
The Monarto complex has been a massive change for all four cows, but especially Burma and Permai, who are older and had lived at their respective zoos for over three decades. As we’ve seen in the Zoos Victoria herd, the younger elephants are far more adaptive to change.
The higher level of confidence seen in Pak Boon and Tang Mo can also be attributed to having each other for support. Taronga has operated in PC for a while now and both they and Melbourne reported the herds engaged more with each other once the keepers took a step back. Burma and Permai have been far more reliant on their keepers; and even what would be regarded some of most experienced elephant keepers in the world can’t replicate the companionship of their own species.
Andrew and the team have said before the intention is for all four cows to reach the stage they can lean on each other for support during times of perceived threat (Burma is unnerved by kangaroos for example) and hopefully we will at least see that; even if becoming best buddies in an unrealistic goal for these cows.