Hopefully his arrival will help with Permai settling in and integrating into the herd. A familiar elephant will likely do her the world of good.
Monarto Safari Park Monarto Safari Park News 2025
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Hopefully his arrival will help with Permai settling in and integrating into the herd. A familiar elephant will likely do her the world of good.
Pak Boon and Tang Mo are the most sociable cows and depending how soon Pak Boon is cycling, I’d expect his introduction to her to be rather prompt.
Tang Mo and Permai have been developing a relationship of recent, which is presumably due to Permai perceiving her as less of a threat than the more assertive Burma (anticipated matriarch) and Pak Boon. With this is mind, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were introduced to Putra Mas as a pair. Aside from having each other for support, if they felt Pak Boon didn’t need the support of Tang Mo in meeting Putra Mas, it would enable the intended breeding pair to focus solely on each other.
Due to Burma’s age and potential of stress related asthma flare ups, I anticipate she’ll be the last to meet Putra Mas. This will give the team time to assess the bull’s behaviour around cows to gauge how viable it is to keep him with the female herd and for what duration. At the moment, that remains an unknown they’re surely prepared to adapt in response to.
i am glad to hear permai is making progress! Good news all around. Those girls won’t know there will be great excitement in a short order!
Thanks.
It sounds like the arrival of the Taronga cows has helped immensely. I had hopes it would as having multiple elephants on site helps dilute the company of all individuals in the herd; as well as enabling each female a choice of three individuals in which to socialise with.
It’s well known that elephants fare best in multigenerational herds and countless introductions of unrelated females in Australasian zoos over the past century have demonstrated the challenges of such introductions.
The most interesting thing to come of this is reports that the dynamics of Pak Boon and Tang Mo’s relationship is changing. While I have no doubt they’ll continue to cohabit without issue, it’s worth noting they were effectively put together with two other unrelated females when Taronga formed their herd; and that they could well consider other females within the Monarto herd a more suitable personality match. Dating back to the Taronga days, Porntip/Pak Boon and Thong Dee/Tang Mo had the closest bonds and with this in mind, this progression is by no means surprising.
Thank you for the update I will be glad when he finally arrives there!
9 news states he is expected to arrive before lunch time tomorrow!
Putra Mas has now crossed the border into South Australia:
Reported on Perth’s socials.
It’s great to hear he’s been eating and drinking during the trip and has otherwise coping with what could have been a stressful situation. No doubt his keepers will be glad to have him arrive safely at Monarto tommorow.
Reported on Perth’s socials.
It’s great to hear he’s been eating and drinking during the trip and has otherwise coping with what could have been a stressful situation. No doubt his keepers will be glad to have him arrive safely at Monarto tommorow.
What to expect tommorow:
From Monarto’s socials:
Here’s what to expect tomorrow:
To help everything run smoothly upon arrival, the Monarto Safari Park elephant precinct will be temporarily unavailable, with Zu-loop bus and walking track access adjusted while Putra Mas is safely moved into his new space.
These short-term adjustments will help our team focus on giving Putra Mas the best possible welcome. And as always, everything will happen on elephant time as Putra Mas settles into his new environment.
Thank you to our zoo family and the wider community for helping us bring elephants back to South Australia - we can't wait to welcome Putra Mas home to Monarto Safari Park.
From Monarto’s socials:
Here’s what to expect tomorrow:
To help everything run smoothly upon arrival, the Monarto Safari Park elephant precinct will be temporarily unavailable, with Zu-loop bus and walking track access adjusted while Putra Mas is safely moved into his new space.
These short-term adjustments will help our team focus on giving Putra Mas the best possible welcome. And as always, everything will happen on elephant time as Putra Mas settles into his new environment.
Thank you to our zoo family and the wider community for helping us bring elephants back to South Australia - we can't wait to welcome Putra Mas home to Monarto Safari Park.
Looking forward to seeing footage of him arrive and unloaded and later his interaction with the 4 cows currently there
Same here. A number of people are requesting this in the comments on socials (in particular Permai’s reaction to being reunited with him), so Zoos SA will surely oblige with some footage of his arrival. Once again, I’ve been really impressed with the coverage by both the sending and receiving zoo (as I was with the transfers of the four cows that preceded him).
The other question that’s being asked by multiple people on socials is whether Monarto Safari Park will undertake breeding. They’ve yet to publicly disclose any information around this, so it’d be nice to have clarification of what we’ve all been assuming will be a prompt attempt at natural breeding from Putra Mas and Pak Boon.
It would be interesting to hear how he handled the move if they care to actually comment on that.
I hope they do try to start some breeding there having only two zoos doing this even when one has cut back and limiting the number of calfs being bred is hardly a good outlook for the long term of elephants in the country
Really exciting to finally have Putra Mas at Monarto!
I'm anticipating we get an announcement from Monarto soon today, hopefully complete with a video of him settling in. I know he won't be in the same barn as the cows, but it would also be great to see footage of their reactions to his arrival nonetheless; especially Permai's, who I'm sure will be excited to see a familiar face.
Considering elephants can communicate via low frequency inaudible to humans, I imagine the cows would have been aware of his presence before they even saw him.
It would be great to see footage of the cows’ excitement at having the bull arrive on site; and of course their introductions to him once he’s settled in.
I’d additionally be interested to know how many stalls the bull barn has (I assume at least three). Hopefully Putra Mas and Pak Boon breed, but @Swanson02 advised in an earlier update that Monarto haven’t ruled out acquiring juvenile/adolescent bulls if breeding doesn’t eventuate. It’s the natural progression for Monarto, which will otherwise have an ageing herd if succession isn’t forthcoming.
Nile Hippo Expert
Well-Known Member
Amazing to see his transfer went okay, hope he gets along well with all four girls (Permai is a no-brainer)!
While Permai will be a familiar face, they very much lived seperate lives at Perth (following Putra Mas’ transition out of the female herd in the 2000’s); and attempts at natural breeding were suspended when Permai refused to cooperate, inciting aggression from the bull.
With this in mind, it wouldn’t surprise me if Putra Mas’ best relationship is with Pak Boon. She’s the only cow in the herd who is a (twice) proven natural breeder and both she and Tang Mo are the most well socialised in regards to meeting bulls.
Area 4 is the bull yard, which will be used to isolate Putra Mas while in musth for three months of the year (Dubbo have the same capacity).
I assume there’s a connecting raceway between the elephant houses/adjoining yards; but there would at a minimum be a gate as the intention is to regularly mix him with the cows.
It was reported Burma had been spending time in Area 4 prior to Putra Mas’ arrival, so they can clearly transfer them between this and the other areas effectively. I imagine the cows will visit Putra Mas in Area 4; and he’ll also be able to visit them in the other paddocks (assuming all are fenced to bull containment standards).
