Anne the ex Circus Elephant.

Eight years on and it's been confirmed that two of the females are pregnant by AI using sperm from wild elephants. The calves are due in summer 2012. For this reason and a host of others, relocating them back to Longleat now or in the future wouldn't be in the best interests of Zoo Parc Beauval or the elephants themselves

I was just wondering has it been confirmed? I spoke to the Zoo last week, and they said they wouldnt confirm, until any births. But i hope they are, would be great news!!
 
I was just wondering has it been confirmed? I spoke to the Zoo last week, and they said they wouldnt confirm, until any births. But i hope they are, would be great news!!

It's on the main Beauval thread
 
For this reason and a host of others, relocating them back to Longleat now or in the future wouldn't be in the best interests of Zoo Parc Beauval or the elephants themselves

I had presumed if Longleat did go back into Elephants it would be with new animals, not the Beauval ones, which are evidently well settled in their new home.

Longleat would presumably need to upgrade their accomodation too- its easy to house one old female, but not a potential breeding group as they found out previously.

I think Longleat is a perfectly good home for this elderly female- probably better than trying to integrate her into an established group like Whipsnade or elsewhere. I suppose I would like to see them obtain one or two other elephants in due course as potential company for her but older cows(either species) in need of good 'retirement' homes rather than trying to setup a fresh breeding group or import any more young elephants. Woburn have demonstrated that its not easy to develop a breeding herd from youngsters as they have so far been unsuccessful with breeding and have had recent problems managing their bull too.
 
It would seem many bulls of breeding age are not successfully mating with females they've grown up with. Often they have missed out on all but the earliest couple of years of proper socialisation when imported from culls or logging camps, depending on the species. It may also be the case that there are many captive bulls which, despite being positioned as the breeding male, would not have achieved that position in the wild and the lack of competition in captivity isn't enough to compensate for this.
 
Agree. There seem many species where the 'platonic' problem arises when very young animals are imported/grow up together. I believe that could be the root of the problem with Woburn's small elephant group.

also as you said, some bull elephants are more 'masculine' than others- get a weedy one as herd bull and the chances of success are already reduced. Also where the bull is younger than females there are problems achieving successful mating, and/or the females may dominate/repulse him. So many little hurdles to success.
 
The old Longleat elephant's were African. Anne is Asian - so could never have been housed with them anyway (according to guidelines - I know it was done at Paignton, but it is not encouraged), Anne also has been on her own for 30 odd years - so to put straight into a herd might not work, and a settling period without other elephants would be good.

As to the temple elephant - not the same at all - I understand she is positively spoilt!
 
Well I really don't endorse the Daily Mail, I'm just sharing info when it comes! :p
 
As to the temple elephant - not the same at all - I understand she is positively spoilt!

Valli is still young, in her early 20s, so she would have less chance of being retired to a sanctuary group if the community gave her up. She may be spoilt, but she's alone, and does not have a large indoor area for the colder months. I saw on their old website they were trying to find her a companion but their new site mentions nothing of this.
 
The old Longleat elephant's were African. Anne is Asian - so could never have been housed with them anyway (according to guidelines - I know it was done at Paignton, but it is not encouraged), Anne also has been on her own for 30 odd years - so to put straight into a herd might not work, and a settling period without other elephants would be good.

As to the temple elephant - not the same at all - I understand she is positively spoilt!
Anne has lived on her own for nine years following the deaths of Janie and Beverley in the winter of 2001/2002.
 
well they hate travellers and gypsies...(in my wholly subjective and of course totally humble opinion....)
 
well they hate travellers and gypsies...(in my wholly subjective and of course totally humble opinion....)

...and foreigners, gay people, the BBC... various other people who are just harmlessly getting on with their lives...


It's a vile rag of hate. No other UK mainstream newspaper comes close for the bigoted and uninformed vitriol that the Daily Mail can dredge up.




You may detect I'm not a fan. For those not familiar with this publication, check out this recent opinion piece on Japan (published as the country was struggling to deal with a triple disaster):

Japanese earthquake and tsunami: My wife's PoW grandad wouldn't mark a minute's silence | Mail Online

My 'favourite' bit is this:

Richard Littlejohn said:
Beyond the baseball caps and Western clothes, the Japanese people have a distinct culture of their own, which is entirely alien to our own values. They are militantly racist and in the past have been capable of great cruelty.

Just... what?? (I also love the clearly unnoticed irony of someone describing a whole race of people as 'racist'...)

Mr. Littlejohn is entitled to his opinions, of course - but my own opinion is that he's a complete idiot.




And now, back to your scheduled elephant discussion! Sorry for the rant!
 
Oh, and just for one more laugh, how many things they say can give you cancer:
The Daily Mail List of 'Things that give you cancer' :D

Oh, I love that!

EDIT: I particularly love when they contradict - both childlessness and having children increase your risk of cancer? Surely it should be clear to anyone that at least one of those studies is either exaggerating or just plain wrong. How they publish this stuff is beyond me...

My favourite: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1265277/Cancer-danger-night-time-trip-toilet.html
 
well they hate travellers and gypsies...(in my wholly subjective and of course totally humble opinion....)

Firstly, I cannot comment on the Daily Mail's opinion on gypsies and travellers or any other section of society as I do not read this newspaper. I do think we should clarify the difference between gypsies and travellers however. I do not wish to be disrespectful of the gypsy community as far as I am concerned we are all just human beings at the end of the day, the fact that some of us choose to live in caravans instead of houses is irrelevant.As far as travellers are concerned i.e. the fairground and circus community there are similarities as both travel the country in caravans providing the public with family entertainment, the fairground world is a closed shop it is very difficult for an outsider to enter this world and become a fairground proprietor, unlike the circus where anyone can enter and start a circus, the aristocrat Bertram Mills and stockbrokers son Gerry Cottle are good examples of this.As far as Mr. Bobby Roberts is concerned he descends on his father's side from the Fossett family, Britain's oldest circus family which stretches back hundreds of years, his mother's family were not from the circus community her family being in the tailoring business who settled in London after leaving the Ukraine. I hardly visit circuses now , animal or none animal as I have got older I have grew out of it and lost interest in its current form. I do however have very happy memories of visiting circuses and meeting the people concerned, at times listening to them talking was more entertaining than the show itself, I do think it is sad how it has ended up for the Roberts family I am glad however that Anne is being re homed as I am of the opinion had this dreadful affair with the groom not come to light Anne would have spent another season on the road, I do hope Mr. and Mrs. Roberts continue to travel their circus with domestic animals kept in good conditions, as I understand their eldest granddaughter is showing great promise in the ring working with horses.
 
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