The Horse Boy
Well-Known Member
I'm sure the barn is the only part of the habitat that need remodeling as the outdoor habitat is pretty extensive
Asian Elephants in Europe 2025
- Thread starter MennoPebesma
- Start date
According to this Facebook post, the 43-year-old Asian elephant bull Mekong left Rapperswil yesterday for Ain Sebaa Zoo in Morocco.
According to an earlier post on the same account, the 27-year-old elephant bull Thisiam is also set to leave Rapperswil before the end of the year.
According to an earlier post on the same account, the 27-year-old elephant bull Thisiam is also set to leave Rapperswil before the end of the year.
Interesting, I wonder what the motive is behind moving Mekong. I hope this means Sandry and maybe even Kalaya are pregnant.
Ryley
Well-Known Member
I don’t think Kalaya is pregnant, Mekong has never really been that interested in younger females with the exception of Janita in Prague. If Thisiam is also scheduled to leave the zoo it would probably be so they can transfer a male in who can succesfully cover both cows in the future.
it seems like they are planning to retire Mekong from breeding.
where would Thisiam be going?
Ryley
Well-Known Member
Hopefully…
One can hope, but it’s doubtful at best. Thisiam unfortunately did not have a very good social environment growing up, spending the majority of his adolescence alone.
He *does* have the desire to breed cows, he will mount them and he attempts copulation, however everything I’ve seen of this shows that it’s a very awkward affair, and he has a hard time getting the angles and positioning right to line everything up properly. I think at least part of the issue is the fact that he is, by all accounts, an extremely large bull, he dwarfs the cows. Normally this would not be an issue, but given the fact that he has essentially not had any chances to practice breeding up until he was already a large adult, learning how to achieve all the correct positions required for successful natural breeding are all the more difficult for him to figure out, given his age, size, and how much smaller the cows are.
Now to be fair, I haven’t seen any breeding attempts from him myself in at least a year or two, so hopefully things have changed since then and he’s figured things out better now. But assuming he’s still been incapable of getting either of the girls pregnant at the Kinderzoo, his best bet will likely be to either head to a facility with numerous large, mature and experienced breeding cows, or a facility that will be extremely proactive in collecting from him for AI. Given the fact that that Thisiam is essentially a founder, with only a sister and nephew, and of a legendary lineage, it will be a tremendous shame to not get any offspring out of him.
He *does* have the desire to breed cows, he will mount them and he attempts copulation, however everything I’ve seen of this shows that it’s a very awkward affair, and he has a hard time getting the angles and positioning right to line everything up properly. I think at least part of the issue is the fact that he is, by all accounts, an extremely large bull, he dwarfs the cows. Normally this would not be an issue, but given the fact that he has essentially not had any chances to practice breeding up until he was already a large adult, learning how to achieve all the correct positions required for successful natural breeding are all the more difficult for him to figure out, given his age, size, and how much smaller the cows are.
Now to be fair, I haven’t seen any breeding attempts from him myself in at least a year or two, so hopefully things have changed since then and he’s figured things out better now. But assuming he’s still been incapable of getting either of the girls pregnant at the Kinderzoo, his best bet will likely be to either head to a facility with numerous large, mature and experienced breeding cows, or a facility that will be extremely proactive in collecting from him for AI. Given the fact that that Thisiam is essentially a founder, with only a sister and nephew, and of a legendary lineage, it will be a tremendous shame to not get any offspring out of him.
The 40-year-old Asian elephant cow Bala at Zoo Liberec will leave the zoo in the first half of next year. Her new home is not yet known.
Source: Facebook Zoo Liberec
Source: Facebook Zoo Liberec
According to the post, she is not a sociable elephant and has chronic back issues. That makes it hard for her to find a home.
maybe a zoo with two older cows will be able to take her.
Per reports from a reliable visitor, Thong Tai and Sanuk are both pregnant and due spring 2026. Sire is Sibu.
Sibu is now also apparently slated to head to Le Pal in Frace at some point within the next year (which of course means we will most likely see Upali head elsewhere as well).
Sibu is now also apparently slated to head to Le Pal in Frace at some point within the next year (which of course means we will most likely see Upali head elsewhere as well).
It is going to be interesting to learn where Upali will go. He has living sons in USA and Australia but no living offspring in the UK.
What about Yindee? I do not know if she is a non breeder or they have her on contraption to prevent pregnancy. She is a daughter of Alexander after all, and his genes are prolific
She’s a non-breeder. She has mated many, many times with Nikolai, Mekong, and Sibu, and never once managed to get pregnant.
I also agree it will be interesting to see where Upali goes. He *is* still quite genetically valuable (especially after the deaths and exports of all but one of his UK born offspring), so I suspect it will likely be to a breeding facility, but at the same time I also have a gut feeling, and nothing more, that he might end up doing some time in a bachelor situation instead for some reason.
Thanks for the clarification on Yindee. She is 20 so maybe she has a chance with Sibu but sometimes even women can not get pregnant due to one reason or another.
I have the same feeling about Upali as you do. I did not say it because I did not want to be called out as "speculative".
The truth is that we have quite a few of his siblings in breeding programs. Time will tell.
Elephantguy10
Member
Hey
I‘m the Visitor
Thank you for Sharing the News
I just want to add a Thing:
vinh will leave the Zoo before Thong Tai will get her Calf
they have been there for a couple months already?
Mr.Ivory
Well-Known Member
Yes they have, at least for a couple of weeks but this is first official announcement