African Elephants In Europe 2022

Mr.Ivory said:
Tooth the breeding bull at the Wuppertal Zoo is stated to leave Wuppertal

"In recent months, zoo visitors have only been able to see the African elephant bull "Tooth" alone in one of the enclosures in the zoological garden of the city of Wuppertal.

Either the large male African elephant "Tooth" could be seen alone in the large outdoor area at the elephant house or alone in the smaller outdoor area, the so-called bull outdoor area, or alone in the bull indoor enclosure in the elephant house.

The African elephant bull "Tooth" has been in the Wuppertal Green Zoo since May 28, 2019. On this day, the then Wuppertal elephant breeding bull "Tusker" left the Wuppertal Zoo and traveled to the Ouwehands Dierenpark in Rhenen in the Netherlands. In return, the elephant bull "Tooth" moved from the Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen to the zoological garden of the city of Wuppertal.

"Tooth" mated two of the three adult African elephant cows in the Wuppertal Green Zoo. The Wuppertal African elephant cow "Tika" is expected to have offspring in autumn 2022 and the Wuppertal African elephant cow "Sabie" is expected to have offspring in the summer of 2023.

During a mating attempt with the Wuppertal elephant cow "Sweni" there was an incident at the time. As a result of this incident and other incidents involving younger elephants, the strong male elephant "Tooth" was separated and has only ever used one of the elephant enclosures allocated to him alone.

Zoo guests have been saying for some time that the African elephant bull "Tooth" will probably leave the Green Zoo in Wuppertal in 2022. The Nyíregyháza Zoo (Sóstó Zoo) in Hungary was discussed as a future location for "Tooth".

With the sale of the African elephant breeding bull "Tooth" there would be more freedom of movement in Wuppertal for the remaining herd of elephants and the two expected young animals.

In addition, the Grüner Zoo Wuppertal is planning a serious redesign and expansion of the current elephant area in the Wuppertal Zoo by 2031. Without breeding elephant bulls, there would be greater flexibility of use for the elephant areas then under conversion during the conversion phase."
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I think this is a nice explanation to avoid having to say that they have to give the bull away since the enclosure is too small.

Minimum requirements in Germany since 2014:
Bull inside: 100 m² - Wuppertal: 95 m²
Bull outside: 1000 m² - Wuppertal: 700 m²
Breeding cows outside: 1000 m² per cow, so 3000 m² for Wuppertal (juveniles younger than 8 don't count) - Wuppertal 2225 m²

The numbers are just guidelines for the local veterinary inspection offices - some are strict and forced zoos to enlarge enclosures pretty quickly, other cities were more laid back and gave more time, but usually they are okay with the existing group if it's too small, but they don't allow new animals in this case. Thus it was a surprise that they could get Tooth in 2019. Without a bull they reach about what they need to have for three breeding cows.
 
They are easily fulfilled. You need a total of 330 m² combined area and a box for each animal aged 8+ of 33 m² size. The size of the boxes can be added to the combined area. Wuppertal has 670 m² and four boxes with 36 m² plus one with 40 m², so they could have five adult cows.
 
Some news:
Moyo is moved from Magdeburg to Thoiry, where the older bull Ben (about 40 years old) lives. He is also to be joined by Jabu from Boras, which means another group of young bulls is being formed with Ben as a mentor.
Kando and Mwana have been introduced and are already getting along, giving them the basis of their plan for a future breeding herd. (Now just get breeding cows;))
 
Elephantelephant said:
Some news:
Moyo is moved from Magdeburg to Thoiry, where the older bull Ben (about 40 years old) lives. He is also to be joined by Jabu from Boras, which means another group of young bulls is being formed with Ben as a mentor.
Kando and Mwana have been introduced and are already getting along, giving them the basis of their plan for a future breeding herd. (Now just get breeding cows;))
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Why not Uli and Kando? They will be with an older cow they wouldn’t be providing mentorship like an older bull would. Mwanda is past breeding age for her first calf. Introducing Mwanda and Uli already? Why not Kando?

I read else where that Jabu from Boras will be joining Moyo and Ben as well.
 
Uli is probably going to move soon, so Magdeburg could start to welcome some females to build a breeding group. Keeping Kando is the best move, beaucause he's the most genetically valuable bull of Magdeburg.
 
Gil said:
Uli is probably going to move soon, so Magdeburg could start to welcome some females to build a breeding group. Keeping Kando is the best move, beaucause he's the most genetically valuable bull of Magdeburg.
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Thanks for the explanation. I was stumped on what’s actually going on at Magdeburg. Are they able to integrate the old cow with the breeding cows assuming they are able to obtain them?
 
Linked to what I announced in April after my Aardvark experience about them having plans to switch Tanya and Opal to free contact, Colchester Zoo have announced that they are completely stopping their Elephant Feeding on the 15th September. This comes after the Zoo originally switching to arranged private feeds costing £20 along with Giraffe feeds after lockdown, before which there were free feeds of a pair of females, I imagine usually Tanya and Opal, probably almost since the Elephant Kingdom enclosure opened in 1998.
 
Magdeburg stated they will announce more on Uli’s situation in their next press release. Given his age and well represented lineage, I think the most likely outcome for him will be moving to another bachelor situation, if I had to venture a guess, Noah’s Ark is a likely candidate.

Also re: Kando staying at Magdeburg, he’s the most logical choice for variety of reasons if they want to form a breeding group. Not only is he the most genetically valuable, but at just over 15 years old, he’s also of a fine age to start coming into his own as a breeding bull. He was raised in a good social group so should know what to do, and has enough size behind him to make sure any cows respect him well enough.

As for Mwana. She’s obviously not a breeding candidate, however she’s been housed largely alone since the death of her Asian companion a few years ago, so it only makes sense that if she can actually be housed in physical contact with another elephant, be it a bull or a cow, it is a welfare improvement for her.

If I had to venture a guess, I would assume Magdeburg is likely going to source its cows from either Cabarceno, or Valencia. Or, on a slightly more controversial/less likely route, I could potentially see either Numbi from Vienna or Sweni from Wuppertal going to Magdeburg to head up a breeding group as well. Both cows are proven natural breeders and good mothers without any surviving female offspring, so would be easy transitions over. Numbi would likely be the better choice, as she seems a bit more socially subdominant, which would mesh well with Mwana, and I’m also under the impression she’s not particularly close with the Vienna cows. Sweni, on the other hand, can be quite a fiery and pugnacious cow, and is also currently well integrated into the Wuppertal group, so she would be the less sensible option, in my opinion.
 
Gil said:
Uli is probably going to move soon, so Magdeburg could start to welcome some females to build a breeding group. Keeping Kando is the best move, beaucause he's the most genetically valuable bull of Magdeburg.
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Totally agreed on Kando and I guess it's safe to say that Uli will move soon and there will be new cows in Magdeburg. However I believe to know who will arrive - the journey will not be extremely long - and I think you will not be happy with it.
 
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Absolutely wonderful news! This calf is the actually the third in total for the pair, their first calf, young bull Kito is currently living at Gyor Zoo in Hungary in a dynamic bachelor group, plus of course young cow Kimani, who as mentioned, still lives at Sosto with her parents. Fingers crossed this youngest calf is another little cow, and regardless, this will be an excellent learning experience for 4 year old Kimani.

The other cow at Sosto, Buba, is a non breeder, but still a good aunt for the calves. Lack of interest in a short video clip isn’t indicative of an animals entire attitude, after all ;)

I would say the future is bright for African elephant at Sosto. They are following proper regular calving intervals, and with the arrival of now proven natural breeding bull Tooth from Wuppertal (and presumed departure of current breeding bull Jack) in the near future, this will only enable them to expand their herd and futher contribute to the EEP population, and all with very genetically valuable animals at that!

EDIT: Just rewatched the video, and it would appear the little calf is a male, although of course until the zoo issues a statement, it’s still up in the air.
 
COLCHESTER ZOO ELEPHANT UPDATE 2/9/2022: I was able to talk to a keeper who had been supervising elephant feedings (as I planned) for about 10 minutes or more and it was worth the wate.
1. My theory that the public elephant feedings permanently stopping because of Tanya and Opal being trained to protected contact was right, this will also affect the Perfect Partner and Keeper For The Day experiences.
2. This is happening because of the recent public controversy over the keeping of elephants in captivity, and health benefits from Tanya and Opal having a routine uninterrupted by constant visitor experiences, this was seen over lockdown.
3. At the moments the zoo are just letting all the elephants and the keepers settle down as Tanya and Opal are trained into PC, and after the financial damage of Covid- they don't plan to bring in any new individuals yet.
4. They may of course still think about breeding from A.I, but they will only breed from Tanya:
Tembo=infertile- no breeding, Opal=infertile- no breeding, Zola= not good with calves and previous miscarriages- no breeding, Tanya= successful birth previously, matriarch, fertile- breeding.
5. As I said they are currently letting the herd settle down, so know moves at the moment, and they can currently only breed through A.I, though if they were to expand it would be through females. If they were to find a new breeding male, it would be Shaka from Noah's Ark- introducing him to females would fire him up ready to breed (maybe they could breed through A.I with him now?).
6. Jambo will most likely not return anytime soon- due to a lack of socialisation with a bull when he was young his breeding abilities are not trusted, but he is happy at Valencia and so are the keepers as he is not needed to be bred from.
7.This keeper (who seemed very positive about the situation) was nice and very helpful, and recommended I do an elephant feeding before they stop (it might be possible) to be able to ask more questions while also getting to interact with the elephants, and if this doesn't happen, I will be visiting at least one Starlight Safari late night opening and could get a chance to find out more normally anyway.
 
That's really interesting to hear re. Tembo. He's previously sired seven calves (his last born eleven years ago). I'm not sure how elephant fertility exactly works, but I don't think males can become infertile?

Re. Tanya. She last gave birth twenty years ago, so the chance of her falling pregnant again are very slim at the most. She could still very well be 'fertile' but the gap between her pregnancies would just be far too much.

Sending Shaka makes sense as he's wildborn with no relatives/offspring in captivity. They may as well send him to a facility where he can have the chance to breed, although he spent two decades at Duisburg and never successfully breed there.
 
Jambo said:
That's really interesting to hear re. Tembo. He's previously sired seven calves (his last born eleven years ago). I'm not sure how elephant fertility exactly works, but I don't think males can become infertile?

Re. Tanya. She last gave birth twenty years ago, so the chance of her falling pregnant again are very slim at the most. She could still very well be 'fertile' but the gap between her pregnancies would just be far too much.

Sending Shaka makes sense as he's wildborn with no relatives/offspring in captivity. They may as well send him to a facility where he can have the chance to breed, although he spent two decades at Duisburg and never successfully breed there.
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And Shaka also spent a few years in Vienna as well but never successfully breed there either
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
COLCHESTER ZOO ELEPHANT UPDATE 2/9/2022: I was able to talk to a keeper who had been supervising elephant feedings (as I planned) for about 10 minutes or more and it was worth the wate.
1. My theory that the public elephant feedings permanently stopping because of Tanya and Opal being trained to protected contact was right, this will also affect the Perfect Partner and Keeper For The Day experiences.
2. This is happening because of the recent public controversy over the keeping of elephants in captivity, and health benefits from Tanya and Opal having a routine uninterrupted by constant visitor experiences, this was seen over lockdown.
3. At the moments the zoo are just letting all the elephants and the keepers settle down as Tanya and Opal are trained into PC, and after the financial damage of Covid- they don't plan to bring in any new individuals yet.
4. They may of course still think about breeding from A.I, but they will only breed from Tanya:
Tembo=infertile- no breeding, Opal=infertile- no breeding, Zola= not good with calves and previous miscarriages- no breeding, Tanya= successful birth previously, matriarch, fertile- breeding.
5. As I said they are currently letting the herd settle down, so know moves at the moment, and they can currently only breed through A.I, though if they were to expand it would be through females. If they were to find a new breeding male, it would be Shaka from Noah's Ark- introducing him to females would fire him up ready to breed (maybe they could breed through A.I with him now?).
6. Jambo will most likely not return anytime soon- due to a lack of socialisation with a bull when he was young his breeding abilities are not trusted, but he is happy at Valencia and so are the keepers as he is not needed to be bred from.
7.This keeper (who seemed very positive about the situation) was nice and very helpful, and recommended I do an elephant feeding before they stop (it might be possible) to be able to ask more questions while also getting to interact with the elephants, and if this doesn't happen, I will be visiting at least one Starlight Safari late night opening and could get a chance to find out more normally anyway.
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It seems unreasonable to try to breed with Tanya. She had her only calf over twenty years ago, so trying to AI is completely pointless and just a waste of funds. As for Shaka, I wouldn't be surprised if he was traded for Tembo. But it wouldn't make any sense. With current elephants, Colchester will no longer be able to reproduce. And apparently they don't want to give them up either, so there are two options in the future, either after the death of the existing elephants, they will get new, young ones, or after their death, the keeding of elephants at Colchester Zoo will end.
 
Jambo said:
That's really interesting to hear re. Tembo. He's previously sired seven calves (his last born eleven years ago). I'm not sure how elephant fertility exactly works, but I don't think males can become infertile?

Re. Tanya. She last gave birth twenty years ago, so the chance of her falling pregnant again are very slim at the most. She could still very well be 'fertile' but the gap between her pregnancies would just be far too much.
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I didn't realise I worded my description of Tembo badly, the keeper just said something along the lines of Tembo no longer being able to reproduce/produce offspring/produce sperm.
In terms of Tanya, chances seem bleak but the keepers know more about the animals they look after than we do, and I'm sure they have some sort of short-medium term plan for the elephants, know what will work, and what is best for the individuals.
 
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