Australasia Asian elephant breeding program

Spixii

Spixii

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Births to date
-0,1 Mali, Bong su x Dokkoon, 2010
-0,1 Tukta, Gung x Pak Boon, 2010
-1,0 Luk Chai, Gung x Thong Dee, 2009
-1,0 Pathi Harn, Bong Su x Porntip, 2010
-1,0 Ongard, Bong su x Kulab, 2010

A second influx of births is about to commence with the birth of Num Oi's calf today or tomorrow.
-Num Oi is in labor as of yet
-Dokkoon is due in November of this year
-Tang Mo is due in March of next year
-Thong Dee is probably pregnant (?)

I'm wondering if Putra Mas was/is going to be involved in the breeding program via AI at some point.
 
Num Oi is in labour, fingers crossed for a safe birth and that it is a female
 
I did hear something interesting on the news last night. There was an small piece about the zookeeper at Taronga who was crushed by one of the young males (Pathi Harn?) going back to work. She confirmed that both of the young males at Taronga will go to Dubbo when they're ready to leave the group.
 
I just received this email:

"Melbourne Zoo's Asian Elephant Num-Oi has given birth overnight.

Her 22-month pregnancy concluded at 2:50am with the birth of a little boy.

Num-Oi was outdoors in the company of Kulab and her two-year-old calf Ongard. Mali, Dokkoon, and Mek Kapah were nearby and able to see the event taking place.

The newborn is the first calf for Num-Oi, and he is the fourth baby for the Zoo’s fertile bull elephant Bong Su.

According to the keepers and vets, Num-Oi is being a very attentive and supportive first time Mum.

As a valued Zoos Victoria Member, we wanted you to be one of the first to know. We'll be able to show you photos soon and we can't wait to welcome you to Melbourne Zoo to see the new arrival!

Please keep your eye on our website for updates."
 
Congratulations to the Melbourne Zoo, however it is almost inevitable based on their breeding program dynamic, that this calf and each subsequent calf will most likely be male. In having a breeding bull which is only represented through AI the male:female ratio is going to be incredibly scewed. I know there is sexual selection technology being utilized for dolphins and livestock in favor of female offspring. I would assume it would work in the case of elephants as well.
On a side note the Australasian elephant breeding program is now the most successful in the world for AI in Asian elephants.
Dokkoon and Tang Mo's pregnancies both are the result of AI.
The gender ratio (male:female) now stands as 4:2
 
The zoos are achieving wonderful outcomes with their breeding record for Asian elephants and are to be congratulated! All potentially viable females should be utilised in breeding efforts to maximise genetic diversity but it is important that calves are not all sired by the same bull. The use of AI to manage sex selection in future will no doubt occur with time and be a further contribution to successfully managing captive populations.
 
topcat said:
The zoos are achieving wonderful outcomes with their breeding record for Asian elephants and are to be congratulated! All potentially viable females should be utilised in breeding efforts to maximise genetic diversity but it is important that calves are not all sired by the same bull. The use of AI to manage sex selection in future will no doubt occur with time and be a further contribution to successfully managing captive populations.
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Yes - the two Aussie zoos are pretty much leading the way worldwide at the moment. They are to be congratulated.

I wonder where those critics who opposed the importation, on the grounds that elephants won't breed in captivity, are hiding.

Sex selection is certainly possible but I don't know whether we are ready for the ethical debate yet. There are a number of institutions that could possibly hold bachelor groups so the issue is not a pressing one at the moment.
 
Steve Robinson said:
Yes - the two Aussie zoos are pretty much leading the way worldwide at the moment. They are to be congratulated.
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I`d say leading the way worldwide are those zoos that breed elephants the natural way - Australian Zoos are doing pretty badly in this regard. San Diego Safari in the US and a number of European Zoos are doing much better.
 
Yassa said:
I`d say leading the way worldwide are those zoos that breed elephants the natural way - Australian Zoos are doing pretty badly in this regard. San Diego Safari in the US and a number of European Zoos are doing much better.
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But how could you breed a highly fertile bull (Bong Su) naturally when he doesn't know how to properly mount a female? At least Taronga is breeding naturally with their bull, as well as using Bong Su's sperm.
 
A mixture of natural breeding and AI will best serve the future management of captive elephants across international populations due to facility differences, legislation, transport logistics, behaviour and compatability issues. The risk of overrepresenting certain bulls held in breeding situations within compatible groups can be overcome with AI as you do not need to move the bull to the 'to be bred' cow. Otherwise the male will continue to only breed with the herd individuals he is kept with. Moving the cow to the bull is more stressful for the cow.

Bachelor herds are being trialled overseas. It is early days regarding how well they can be managed over longer time frames.

As breeding continues longterm outlets for male offspring will need to be found. Sex selection using improved AI techniques may provide one management option. Not many bulls are trained to provide semen for AI and not all bulls are suitable for breeding naturally for a variety of reasons. The task is to get as many bull and cow genetic combinations represented in the next generation as possible.
 
Yassa said:
I`d say leading the way worldwide are those zoos that breed elephants the natural way - Australian Zoos are doing pretty badly in this regard. San Diego Safari in the US and a number of European Zoos are doing much better.
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Don't be too hard on us Yassa!! We are at the end of the world and it is just not possible to shift bulls around like you can in Europe or the US. We only have two breeding bulls and one of them can't do the job naturally.

We have to do the best we can with what we've got. Given our limited resources I don't think that it is unreasonable to say that we are "leading the way".

Of course we would like to breed our elephants naturally. For a start, your countrymen don't come cheap!! However, their technical brilliance has been essential to achieve the breeding outcomes that we already have. They have learnt things along the way, as have us Aussies. Who knows, one day Bong Su's genes may be able to be passed along naturally by one of his sons. Without AI those genes would have been lost.
 
(Does anyone know anything about Putra Mas, as he could be vital to the program long term).

Having six calves born live, out of six (announced pregnancies) with two (possibly four) more calves coming in the coming year or two is a feat in itself. I would consider the Zoos Victoria/Taronga elephant breeding program a success, on a regional and global level. The most notable set back in the entire program is the TB infection in Pak Boon, and the keeper injury incident.

Once Aukland imports the two females from Sri Lanka (I'm fairly certain that is still planned) and Perth involves its bull and possibly female (?) the Regional Program will have far more to work with.
 
loxodontaafrica said:
(Does anyone know anything about Putra Mas, as he could be vital to the program long term).

Once Aukland imports the two females from Sri Lanka (I'm fairly certain that is still planned) and Perth involves its bull and possibly female (?) the Regional Program will have far more to work with.
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Im fairly certain attempts to AI Perth's younger female have proven unsuccessful and Im unsure of the fertility of the male.
 
Not sure what's happening re Auckland - last I heard (which was a while ago) it was still very much up for debate. Anyone know otherwise?
 
I Heard that they were ment to arrive in September 2012 and now i beleive they are ment to be here by April 2013 well thats what I have been told but it wsill most likley be delaid ageain. :(
 
With the death of Siam at the Australia Zoo, I believe that the best course of action would be to transfer Burma and Gigi from TWPZ to Australia. The exhibit is truly phenomenal up there, and would serve well as THE retirement facility for the ASMP. However based on the advanced ages of Burma and Gigi, this is probably not in the best interest of the animals.

The TWPZ could then ultimately hold the region's young male elephants introduced by the successful breeding program in a bachelor situation.
-Luk Chai
-Pathi Harn
-Ongard
-Sanook

Is everything progressing well with Dokkoon and Tang Mo's pregnancies?
Also, has there been any talk of additional pregnancies (Thong Dee and Kulab)?

News from Auckland?

I would imagine Permai is being given fertility treatment... Hoping to hear news from that front in the near future.
 
loxodontaafrica said:
With the death of Siam at the Australia Zoo, I believe that the best course of action would be to transfer Burma and Gigi from TWPZ to Australia. The exhibit is truly phenomenal up there, and would serve well as THE retirement facility for the ASMP. However based on the advanced ages of Burma and Gigi, this is probably not in the best interest of the animals.

The TWPZ could then ultimately hold the region's young male elephants introduced by the successful breeding program in a bachelor situation.
-Luk Chai
-Pathi Harn
-Ongard
-Sanook

Is everything progressing well with Dokkoon and Tang Mo's pregnancies?
Also, has there been any talk of additional pregnancies (Thong Dee and Kulab)?

News from Auckland?

I would imagine Permai is being given fertility treatment... Hoping to hear news from that front in the near future.
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Heres my ideal plan for australian elephants:

- Australia Zoo: Post breeding female elephants.

- Taronga Zoo: Breeding herd. Will have to ship out some young bulls and adult females unless large expansion completed.

- TWPZ: Hold bulls from melbourne and Taronga. The zoo should add more barns and yards. It could be the equivlant of the national elephant center in Florida.

-Perth: Expand there breeding herd to include a new male and more females.

- Melbourne: Breeding herd, and in recent article mentioned expansion for there growing herd being a top priority.

- Another zoo would have to hold elephants as the herds are breeding rapidly. This would probably be Werribee. These zoo should also import a male from Europe or America to bring in new bloodlines.
 
I agree with most of your ideas, a few areas of concern are;
-TWPZ still holds 0.1 African elephant. Until research about its transmission or a vaccine is developed that is 100% effective, I would not like to see any Asian elephants which would potentially be used in a breeding situation placed there.
-I dont know that a new male elephant would be required at this stage or at any time in the next 5 to ten years. Perth zoo's elephants are still not represented genetically, and there is still the possibility of semen being imported from Singapore(???) to introduce a new bloodline if need be.
 
thanks for getting in touch. While Tang Mo’s test results indicated that she was pregnant in 2012, this did not proceed. The reason could be a false-positive test result, or that a foetus which was only a few weeks old did not survive. This is not unusual in elephants.
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According to the Taronga Zoo's facebook page today 5-23-13, Tang Mo is no longer expecting her first calf. They attribute it to a false positive or a early fetal death in 2012. I'm rather irritated that they would announce the pregnancy prematurely, and then fail to mention that she wasn't actually carrying a calf.
 
I have heard that, regarding Taronga, Tang Mo and Thong Dee + any future female calves will stay at Taronga while Pak Boon and Porntip + any future female calves will move to Dubbo. Not sure that this is correct tho.
 
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