African Elephants in Europe 2021

Elephantelephant said:
Dubbel bebislycka för elefanterna på Borås djurpark

Great news from Boras !!! Panzi gave birth to her second calf! But I don't know what gender is. And Dudu, Panzi's mother, is also pregnant and is expected to give birth at any time! :):)
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Absolutely wonderful news!

Boras is a facility that is "slept on" in my opinion. While other facilities transfer animals around and try and breed (with varying degrees of success) with much fanfare, Boras just quietly chugs along without much attention, yet they have an incredibly successful breeding program, very genetically valuable animals, cohesive herd, and an absolutely amazing exhibit, both indoors and out. Boras is, without a doubt, one of the best facilities for Africans in Europe, in my opinion.
 
Ouwehands Dierenpark, the Netherlands:
African elephant bull Tusker left Ouwehands Dierenpark this morning. An elephant calf is expected this fall, which means that Tusker's mission in Ouwehands has come to an end. Tusker is on his way to Basel zoo to have offspring there too.
 
MennoPebesma said:
Ouwehands Dierenpark, the Netherlands:
African elephant bull Tusker left Ouwehands Dierenpark this morning. An elephant calf is expected this fall, which means that Tusker's mission in Ouwehands has come to an end. Tusker is on his way to Basel zoo to have offspring there too.
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Very good. Don't hesitate in creating breeding options. Very good move!
 
A very interesting move, but sadly one I am not very excited about. Jack, who is also a proven breeding bull who is actively siring offspring, was unable to get either of their younger cows pregnant during his 2 year stay despite breeding with both of them.

However that said, perhaps in the time between Jack and Tusker, they have managed to get the one cows cycle restarted (since she apperantly wasn't cycling while Jack was there).

Either way, the move doesn't hurt, as the only breeding cow at Ouwehands is currently pregnant and not due for another several months, and Tusker is already very well represented. If anyone could managed to get one of the Basel girls pregnant, it would be him!
 
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This is a useless and stupid move. The females in Basle are too old for a calf. This transfer means Tusker‘s potenial is wasted. He wont sire a calf there. That is terrible since there are too few breeding bulls and time is running for many of the young females. It is such a shame that the EEP sends proven bulls to zoos with females such as Dresden and Basle with very little to no hope for breeding, while females that are young enough for a first calf are aging without acess to a suitable bull. Tusker should have been moved to Valencia or Lisboa or Beauval!!!
 
Yassa said:
This is a useless and stupid move. The females in Basle are too old for a calf. This transfer means Tusker‘s potenial is wasted. He wont sire a calf there. That is terrible since there are too few breeding bulls and time is running for many of the young females. It is such a shame that the EEP sends proven bulls to zoos with females such as Dresden and Basle with very little to no hope for breeding, while females that are young enough for a first calf are aging without acess to a suitable bull. Tusker should have been moved to Valencia or Lisboa or Beauval!!!
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However despite what I said in my above post, I agree with you 100% (especially for Lisboa!)

I do support the EEP trying with these cows on the cusp of losing their reproductive protential, but I think they should be a bit more tight with how long the bulls stay, if a proven sire can't get a cow pregnant after a year and a half, get them out of there. If they can't get a cow pregnant after 2 or 3 cycles, it's just not going to happen.
 
Why don't one of you take over the leadership of the EEP ?

It is like with "Who becomes a millionaire?"- the people on the couch know it always better than those on the chair. And worldpolitics is not made in the Bundesstag, in the white house or in the Kremlin, but on park bank and the table reserved for regulars.

Especially with elephants it is always nice to read how many "experts" there are, who know much better about elephants and their breeding coordination than those people who do it professionally - but what do they know about elephants?

Of course, behind every EEP, behind every studbook there is only one person, and, unfortunately, one must say, there is one or the other EEP coordinator, who does not master the whole thing as well as others, (to put it bluntly), but as a layman, who lacks any background knowledge about this planned transfer, one should be a little more careful with such statements.
 
I have a feeling that its not so much the EEP co-ordinator, but more individual facilities that are really to blame for some of the decisions we see with the Africans.

Look at Beauval for instance, they wanted proven bull Niko, but Amneville refused to send him out, despite the fact that I'm sure the EEP would have approved the transfer and Amneville could probably have gotten another bull to have on display easily enough.
 
I have mixed feelings, Tusker is well represented and therefore it is not very important to have as many offspring as possible. But again, I think there is almost no hope for an offspring in Basel. A cow can still be healthy and fertile, but at this age it usually no longer becomes pregnant. But they probably know what they're doing. If it succeeds, it will be an extraordinary success. If anyone should be able to do that, Tusker is probably the last hope.
If Maya became pregnant, another thing is if she will give birth to a healthy calf at this age. So far, probably no cow in Europe has ever given birth to her first healthy calf after 25 years. The first may be Kali from Zlin, who is 27 years old and is expecting her first calf this summer. In any case, the chances in Basel are very small, but miracles happen.
 
Elephantelephant said:
If Maya became pregnant, another thing is if she will give birth to a healthy calf at this age. So far, probably no cow in Europe has ever given birth to her first healthy calf after 25 years. The first may be Kali from Zlin, who is 27 years old and is expecting her first calf this summer. In any case, the chances in Basel are very small, but miracles happen.
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from who is Kali, Zlin, pregnant? Which bull?
 
Tusker said:
Panzi's second calf at the zoo Boras has died. It was a female and she was pushed out by the herd. Dudu also gave birth to a male calf. The zoo announces that the elephant male is alert and feeling well.
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Oh no! Such a pity, if the second calf were born a week later, it might not have happened. Let's hope the second calf is healthy and develops well. :(:(:(
 
Antoine said:
@Yassa @Hyak_II @Elephantelephant
In this article Arrivée d’un nouvel éléphant mâle au zoo de Bâle, unfortunately in french, it is said that Tusker will go to Spain after Basel. I suppose he will challenge Valencia's cows in a few months ;)
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It will be amazing, Tusker works wonders and maybe we will see a few calves in Valencia. I think Valencia is the only option. Furthermore, I can only think of Cabarceno, but they have two bulls. This means that Jambo will probably move soon.
 
Very sad news about the passing of Panzi's valuable female calf :( However considering the past history of the group, it is very likely there was nothing more that could have been done for the little one. Fingers crossed Dudu's new male calf will do well and eventually grow into a beautiful, genetically valuable breeding bull one day!

Also very interesting news about Tusker. I'm very keen to see how things play out for him.

And in the note of Wuppertal animals, excellent news has just been released! Tika, the almost 14 year old daughter of Tusker (and Sweni) has just been confirmed pregnant again! The sire is founder bull Tooth through natural breeding.

This will be the second calf for Tika, but will be the very first calf for Tooth. I personally couldn't be happier, as Tooth, along with being a wild caught founder, is an absolutely STUNNING animal, with a very good conformation, nice head and ears, and beautiful long, thick, symmetrical tusks. Truly the ideal image of a young adult bull African Elephant.

I have no doubt there will be more pregnancies announced from Wuppertal in the near future now that Tooth has figured things out, and hopefully he will have many, many offspring to come down the road (and with 5 eligible cows with him, all the better!)
 
Tusker's move to Basel Zoo surprises many. It may play out, but more likely I presume given the ages of the cows a reproductive life now seems highly unlikely. Bioparco Valencia needs a proven bull and a social break up of cows ASAP.

Tooth's career in reproduction also underlines his issues may well have been incompatible or cows potentially unable to reproduce??!

I wonder whether reproductive evaluation of bulls and cows in the EEP is actively done. I have an inkling in a few cases this could resolve and improve breeding in those well suitable. Difficult choices have to be made, I guess. Basel Zoo is not a good case in point, I hope I am disproven.....
 
Sad news, the beautiful old cow Zimba has passed away at the age of 40 the the Opel Zoo in Germany :(
 
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