North American African Elephant Population 2025

Jambo said:
Seeing as many facilities around the country have gone the route of retiring their geriatric elephants to a sanctuary or a retirement facility in recent years, I wouldn't be surprised if Milwaukee end up doing the same.
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Inherently it's just easier in a lot of cases to send to a sanctuary - AZA expectations and activists being what they are, if you end up down to one or two elderly elephants you're sometimes in the hot seat with tough options. The AZA obviously doesn't hard and fast enforce the three elephant rule (Bronx, and til recently Phoenix) but it's definitely preferable when possible. Given Milwaukee hasn't really been the center of much activist criticism (far as I'm aware anyway) I'd imagine they have some time to weigh the direction forwards.
 
Zorro said:
Had she been housed on concrete before
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I can’t speak for Ruth’s previous homes though it is likely, but from the time she arrived in late 2006 to when Adventure Africa opened in early 2019, elephants in Milwaukee were housed in a tiny paddock with hard earth outside, and a pair of concrete stalls. Sand wasn’t added into the stalls until early 2017.

Coincidentally, on a side note, Ruth was the same elephant that had fallen into the moat of the old habitat back in late 2009. While not super likely, and I know the circumstances and age were different, but part of me wonders if something from that old incident came back to (no pun intended) add insult to injury with these last couple falls.
 
Jambo said:
Seeing as many facilities around the country have gone the route of retiring their geriatric elephants to a sanctuary or a retirement facility in recent years, I wouldn't be surprised if Milwaukee end up doing the same.

Either way it seems their focus will go towards bulls sooner rather than later. Whether that's acquiring a bull in the meantime to be able to 'socialise' with the remaining two cows, or sending the remaining pair to another facility and then acquiring a younger group of bachelors.
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This is all getting rather speculative now ..., but given that the facility was specifically geared towards managing their ageing / elderly non-reproductive cows ... and the zoo keeper focus has been on specific training/management for these (as well as bringing one in on opening ...) underlines their dedication towards being an elderly cow facility for now. What will come in future really is beyond us ATM.


Just finally...., I would like to urge all ZC members to keep a low profile on the matter for now ... given that the MKZ staff are still coming to terms with the dramatic loss of one of their cow elephants after a recent major incident (that seemed to have cow Ruth recover from that fall thanks to early response systems and quick acting upon the fall.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Just finally...., I would like to urge all ZC members to keep a low profile on the matter for now ... given that the MKZ staff are still coming to terms with the dramatic loss of one of their cow elephants after a recent major incident (that seemed to have cow Ruth recover from that fall thanks to early response systems and quick acting upon the fall.
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Speculation about facility plans after an animal's death is commonplace on Zoochat, I don't really see how it is disrespectful to Ruth or her keepers to discuss the potential future for the facility. I agree that any further speculation should probably make its way to the speculation thread, but I suppose I'm a little confused on why you're suggesting that we need to keep quiet because her keepers might be upset by posts they likely won't see? I say this without intent to argue, just wondering!
 
MidwestFan said:
Ryan was a wealth of historical knowledge on elephants with a long family history - this is big loss for those interested in the history of elephants in the US and beyond:

Growler Pines Tiger Preserve
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Truly devastating. If you did not know who Ryan was, I would encourage you to take a look at his blog. Though not updated in over a decade, it is an incredible resource and a testament to his passion for elephants.

ShowMe Elephants
 
Jaxton said:
Truly devastating. If you did not know who Ryan was, I would encourage you to take a look at his blog. Though not updated in over a decade, it is an incredible resource and a testament to his passion for elephants.

ShowMe Elephants
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His Facebook page for the site was kept regularly updated: ShowMe Elephants

Absolutely heartbroken to learn of his death. Rest in peace, Ryan.
 
It appears that Callee has been reintroduced to at least a few of Sedgwick's cows (and subsequent calves), looks like Simunye, Talia, Arusi, Bomani and Asali. I believe that's Callee the back of this video a few times, he's quite a bit taller than the cows, has one long tusk and has a wider face.
Might mean that Simunye may conceive again sooner than anticipated!
1K views · 1.3K reactions | Just a minute of good wholesome baby elephant content at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Where else can you go see four baby calves ages 1-5 months? It’s the cutest site in town. Thanks to @tbexevents and @visitwichita for hosting us at the Travel Blog Exchange conference. Lots of travelers in town putting a spotlight on Wichita. #Wichita #VisitWichita #Elephants #Zoo #WichitaByEB | Wichita By E.B.
 
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It sounds like Simunye is cycling normally. If she follows the normal cycling, she would have cycled at least once since March. So her second (at least) cycle would be any time now.
 
ZCChip said:
It sounds like Simunye is cycling normally. If she follows the normal cycling, she would have cycled at least once since March. So her second (at least) cycle would be any time now.
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It really depends on the cow, some cycle quite soon after after their miscarriage, other's don't, so it's difficult to assess. This could've very well been her first cycle too. I doubt the cows would be too tolerant of him around the young calves if she wasn't cycling at the filming of this video.
 
Jambo said:
It really depends on the cow, some cycle quite soon after after their miscarriage, other's don't, so it's difficult to assess. This could've very well been her first cycle too. I doubt the cows would be too tolerant of him around the young calves if she wasn't cycling at the filming of this video.
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That is why I said *if* she is following normal cycling. I would not think the management would allow her around Callee until they are sure she is doing well. And that may be skipping a cycle to allow her body to heal and reset.

Maybe he is quite a mellow bull so they would think he is fine.
 
From what I have seen and heard about Callee, he is a very mild-mannered bull, both to cows and other bulls.

It wouldn't be surprising to see him grouped with the cows simply for socialization purposes with the eventual goal of having the entire group out together most days. It would also make sense that, if Simunye is indeed healthy and cycling normally, that they would want her pregnant ASAP to ensure her calf isn't too much younger than the current cohort; especially given that there is likely to be a pretty solid interval between calves for all the girls while the exhibit expansion occurs.
 
Frankie_number_1_fan said:
From what I have seen and heard about Callee, he is a very mild-mannered bull, both to cows and other bulls.

It wouldn't be surprising to see him grouped with the cows simply for socialization purposes with the eventual goal of having the entire group out together most days. It would also make sense that, if Simunye is indeed healthy and cycling normally, that they would want her pregnant ASAP to ensure her calf isn't too much younger than the current cohort; especially given that there is likely to be a pretty solid interval between calves for all the girls while the exhibit expansion occurs.
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With Simunye's age too (being about 28), it's also imperative to get a calf on the ground from her asap, rather than waiting for the next cohort. It would be equally great to get a female calf from her to help build up her matriline at Sedgewick. Although she's currently matriarch and is therefore socially present within the herd, there's no guarantees this will be the case long term as the females begin to build matrilines of their own.
 
Jambo said:
With Simunye's age too (being about 28), it's also imperative to get a calf on the ground from her asap, rather than waiting for the next cohort. It would be equally great to get a female calf from her to help build up her matriline at Sedgewick. Although she's currently matriarch and is therefore socially present within the herd, there's no guarantees this will be the case long term as the females begin to build matrilines of their own.
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The good thing is that, despite the circumstances, Simunye did have a healthy, full term pregnancy that simply went wrong in the birthing process. She has even been able to allomother Bomani by nursing him alongside Talia. Her body essentially went through all the motions of conceiving, growing, birthing and nursing a calf, so she does have time on her side now.
However, I would be shocked if Sedgwick isn't interested in getting a calf of her own on the ground asap, assuming she is healthy to do so.
 
ZCChip said:
She already had at least one other calf, Titan. It is possible she had another before him in Africa.
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I would give an arm and a leg to know the family relations between the 2016 Swazi imports, I find it quite odd that they were are three mother-calf pairs (Jayei, and Omma, Nolwazi, and Amahle, and Simunye and Titan) considering the large number of young individuals.
 
ZCChip said:
She already had at least one other calf, Titan. It is possible she had another before him in Africa.
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I don't think Jambo was insinuating that Simunye hadn't had a calf before, simply saying that there would be a very long interval between her last potential calf (which would've had to have been born before 2016) and calf from a potential second cohort multiple years down the line.
However, since we can count Malaika as a full term calf, she now has more time to conceive again before length between births becomes an issue.
 
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