Chester Zoo 2013 #2 from June 2013

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bongorob said:
Could the link be Thi Hi Way?
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I'd say it's most likely her or Upali - Lohimi, Xian and Aishu all died from EEHV, they are all full siblings of Upali.

(Soure: The Elephant Database)

Of course, we need to wait and see whether Nayan's death is confirmed as EEHV before we speculate too much - my sympathies are also, of course, with the rest of the herd and the team who care for them.
 
Research indicates that almost all elephants carry one or serveral strains of EEVH, just like almost all humans carry the human sort of herpes. Genetic research on serveral EEVH outbreaks in the USA showed no link between the cases, not even between infections in the same herd - the strains were too different to be from one source. EEVH pops up everywhere, not just in zoos that had outbreaks before - shortly before Jamila, Arwen from Pont Scorff Zoo in France died at one year of age, and there is no connection to any other known EEVH outbreak (her father is from Emmen, which never had even a single EEVH case, and her mother from La Palmyre, for which the same is true). If you take this in account, speculating which elephant is the cause is really useless.
 
The two recent calves are a male and a female - the male born to Sundara and the female to Sithami.
 
Thanks.

As someone else mentioned, I sincerely hope a 'cure' can be found to protect them from Herpes by the time they get to the dangerous age.:(
 
Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
Such a blow, I really did think Nayan and Jamilah had overcome the disease.
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What? Both of them were still under 4 years old so both still extremely vulnerable to the virus.

Let alone how they could get over something no-one knew they had.

Thanks for the info LCPete, that was the response I was hoping for.
 
Chester have announced via Twitter/Facebook the birth of two Northern cheetahs. Some great news, after the death of both elephant calves.
 
Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
Chester have announced via Twitter/Facebook the birth of two Northern cheetahs. Some great news, after the death of both elephant calves.
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Born to Kinky-Tail (or KT as she seems to be now) on the 4th of June - so they've been there for a while too!
 
It is indeed great news, coming so soon after the bad news from the elephant section.
 
I would just like to place on record my sympathy to all at Chester at the sad death of young Nyan, just weeks after the loss of Jamilah, similar happened at Whipsnade a few years back when Lee Lee died of the herpes virus, young Donaldson died shortly after. If Nyan has also died of the herpes virus like Ramon and Jamilah, this will bring Chester's total loss of young elephants to three, the same number at Whipsnade and also V.J. at Twycross. I understand a vaccine for this dreadfully sad illness is being developed, until it has been, would it not be appropriate to suspend the breeding of elephants until a successful vaccination is developed, it would stop any more babies being born, which is a negative step, but it would at least avoid the sadness and heartache at the death of these elephants at such a young age.
 
TARZAN said:
would it not be appropriate to suspend the breeding of elephants until a successful vaccination is developed, it would stop any more babies being born, which is a negative step, but it would at least avoid the sadness and heartache at the death of these elephants at such a young age.
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The problem with that suggestion is twofold - firstly, if it took longer than expected to get a successful vaccination developed, there would be some risk of the captive population becoming too elderly for breeding. Secondly, I believe that Asian elephants are one of the various species which need to breed in order to be capable of breeding - female elephants who go too long without a pregnancy tend to become infertile due to changes to the uterus and ovaries, no matter how young they might be. This means that a wholesale cessation of breeding elephants would likely impact the captive population a lot more in the long run than breeding them and risking losing a certain number to herpes would.
 
It's sad for everyone involved but at least the babies seem to lead pretty happy healthy lives until they are unfortunately struck down, I'd be more inclined against continued breeding if the young ones had prolonged suffering.
 
News from 31st July

5 Marbled Teal ducklings are on show in the bird rearing aviary along with a few unidentified ducklings which look like mallards, but are obviously not.

A male Bell's Angle-headed Lizard (Gonocephalus bellii) is on show in RORA, in the viv where the mountain horned dragon used to be. The female may also be there but didn't see her.

Maintenance staff were in the prcess of dismantling the wooden island near to the Ronald Pryor Hide in the Pelican Aviary.

Saw FelidLover doing her bear survey, didn't see the bear.

FelidLover and I counted four bongos between us, I later went back alone and counted 2.

I cut short my visit because of the persistant heavy rain.
 
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