Not just a small gap between the calfs birth dates but a mature cow delivering a week ahead of her own daughters first calf also making her a grandmother.
Australasian Asian Elephant Population 2022
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Not just a small gap between the calfs birth dates but a mature cow delivering a week ahead of her own daughters first calf also making her a grandmother.
Dokkoon will indeed be the region’s first maternal grandmother - the same month the birth of her newborn made Gung and Thong Dee the first paternal grandparents.
It’s an exciting reminder how young our regional population is compared to Europe and North America. We have several viable founders and a genetically valuable population - both regionally and internationally.
Mali must be trying to stop the labor pains and keep the wee one in utero.
I hope all will go well. It might be a while yet.
It’s possible Mali gave birth this morning and zoos vic just haven’t announced it yet. We’ll have to just wait and see. It’s very warm weather today here, which is known to influence cows holding off the birth.
I’m more inclined to believe it’s a delayed announcement.
Cows are known to delay giving birth in hot weather (as we saw with Dokkoon in the summer of 2010): but in this case Mali is already in labour and it’d be unusual for her to stall labour at this point.
I am hoping the Dubbo herd does not lag behind the Melbourne herd to much
Breeding Plans for Dubbo
I’d expect three births within the Dubbo herd in the next five years:
- Breeding from Anjalee is a priority. I’d expect her to conceive within the next 12 months.
- Breeding from Thong Dee is necessary by 2026 if they want to maintain her viability as a breeding cow. I’d expect her to produce the next calf in conjunction with Anjalee. This will allow them another decade to decide whether to continue breeding with her. Personally, I’m of the belief she’ll be retired after three calves. She’s already well represented through Luk Chai.
- Breeding from Porntip is necessary by 2028. They may opt to bring this forward to align with Anjalee and Thong Dee’s calves. This would avoid the issues that come with two year age gaps between calves in a herd and means Porntip could align with Kanlaya for a fourth calf (which would probably be her final calf).
In conclusion, I’d predict:
2025: Porntip, Thong Dee (then retire), Anjalee
2030: Porntip (then retire), Anjalee, Kanlaya
The new cow/calf facility will likely be up and running by 2025, but the above is likely the maximum breeding we’ll see - bearing in mind the two cows at Taronga will be rejoining the herd within this timeframe.
Birth Announcement:
Mali has given birth to her first calf, a boy!
Absolutely wonderful news to see a healthy, textbook birth from a first time mother. A little disappointing to see it’s not a girl, but a healthy calf (albeit a boy) is brilliant nonetheless.
This calf is the first second generation calf born in Australia, and it would be awesome to have a name that honours this significant achievement since the regions breeding program began only sixteen years ago.
Congrats to all of Melbourne’s team. Two calves in a week, absolutely phenomenal.
1.0 Unnamed (26/11/2022) Luk Chai x Mali
Mali has given birth to her first calf, a boy!
Absolutely wonderful news to see a healthy, textbook birth from a first time mother. A little disappointing to see it’s not a girl, but a healthy calf (albeit a boy) is brilliant nonetheless.
This calf is the first second generation calf born in Australia, and it would be awesome to have a name that honours this significant achievement since the regions breeding program began only sixteen years ago.
Congrats to all of Melbourne’s team. Two calves in a week, absolutely phenomenal.
1.0 Unnamed (26/11/2022) Luk Chai x Mali
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Birth Announcement
Mali has given birth to a healthy male calf.
The second calf born this month!
1.0 Unnamed (26/11/2022) Luk Chai x Mali
Regional Milestones
It’s fantastic to see a successful birth to Mali - who is the region’s first first generation cow to become a mother and was herself the first elephant born at Melbourne Zoo!
With the birth of this calf, Dokkoon is now the first maternal grandmother in the region and posthumously, the deceased Bong Su has become the region’s first maternal grandfather.
This is also the closest age gap (10 days) between two calves born at the same facility.
Mali has given birth to a healthy male calf.
The second calf born this month!
1.0 Unnamed (26/11/2022) Luk Chai x Mali
Regional Milestones
It’s fantastic to see a successful birth to Mali - who is the region’s first first generation cow to become a mother and was herself the first elephant born at Melbourne Zoo!
With the birth of this calf, Dokkoon is now the first maternal grandmother in the region and posthumously, the deceased Bong Su has become the region’s first maternal grandfather.
This is also the closest age gap (10 days) between two calves born at the same facility.
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ZF15 pipped to the post by 30 seconds or so
I think we’ve all been waiting for the exciting news of a successful birth ever since Melbourne announced Mali was in labour yesterday.
It’s a massive relief to see Mali finally delivered a healthy calf; although I don’t think labour surpassed 24 hours which means the labour wasn’t entirely extensive. Whilst most cows usually deliver after three or four hours of labour, Mali went into labour yesterday morning, so she was rather always going to have a little bit more extensive labour so she could give birth during the night.
There was certainly a degree of risk with Mali being a first time mother, but it seems to have gone flawlessly. Melbourne’s staff should be immensely proud to have another healthy calf on the ground.
My biggest concern was Mali (a small elephant) delivering her first calf, but any issues were surely partly negated by using a bull from a small line.
It’s interesting to see Mali’s response to the calf, which is typical of a first time mother. She initially appears frightened of the calf and backs away. It’s a shame footage cut off at that point as this is where Dokkoon likely stepped in to reassure Mali - which then led to Mali approaching the calf and doing everything right, as we see in the final clip. In any case, the perfect outcome - albeit a male calf.
I’m curious to know the weights of these calves as Mali’s calf looks much larger than Dokkoon’s (even now, 10 days after the birth).
Gung’s Calves:
1.0 Luk Chai born 2009 (Thong Dee): 96kg
0.1 Tukta born 2010 (Pak Boon): 120kg
1.0 Sabai born 2016 (Thong Dee): 101kg
1.0 Jai Dee born 2017 (Pak Boon): 130kg
Bong Su’s Calves:
0.1 Mali born 2010 (Dokoon): 111kg
1.0 Pathi Harn born 2010 (Porntip): 116kg
1.0 Ongard born 2010 (Kulab): 142 kg
1.0 Man Jai born 2013 (Dokoon): 131kg
1.0 Sanook born 2013 (Num Oi): 131kg
Putra Mas’ Calves:
0.1 Willow born 2016 (Num Oi): 103kg
0.1 Kanlaya born 2018 (Porntip): 120kg
1.0 Luk Chai born 2009 (Thong Dee): 96kg
0.1 Tukta born 2010 (Pak Boon): 120kg
1.0 Sabai born 2016 (Thong Dee): 101kg
1.0 Jai Dee born 2017 (Pak Boon): 130kg
Bong Su’s Calves:
0.1 Mali born 2010 (Dokoon): 111kg
1.0 Pathi Harn born 2010 (Porntip): 116kg
1.0 Ongard born 2010 (Kulab): 142 kg
1.0 Man Jai born 2013 (Dokoon): 131kg
1.0 Sanook born 2013 (Num Oi): 131kg
Putra Mas’ Calves:
0.1 Willow born 2016 (Num Oi): 103kg
0.1 Kanlaya born 2018 (Porntip): 120kg
Quite right that's exactly what happened, nice to see Mali give the baby a gentle nudge with her front foot to try and help her stand up!
It’ll be fascinating to see Mali’s parenting style compared to the other females. She was only approaching her fourth birthday when the last surviving calf (Man Jai) was born, so she’s had little experience in a maternal role - bar the past 10 days spent with her newborn sibling.
Mek Kepah and Kulab aren’t highly maternal cows, so any help Mali receives will be limited - with Dokkoon and Num Oi preoccupied with their own calves.
Nonetheless, I’m confident she’ll prove an excellent mother and her son will thrive.
Dokkoon did seem a little hesitant to help out too (probably more interested in protecting her own calf). Usually the calf sometimes needs nudging to move, so it’s wonderful to see the calf just almost attempt to get straight up after birth.
It’s hard to judge from the footage, but Dokkoon’s calf was definitely very small. Luk Chai was the smallest calf to date, but this calf of his and Dokkoon (another small female) may rival his record.
Mali was Bong Su’s daughter, and isn’t a real big female herself, but it does seem like her calf is bigger than Dokkoon’s. I think we can all agree Num Oi’s will likely be the biggest though.
The third cow was Mek Kepah and good spotting, I missed that!
Just Num Oi’s birth to go now, but she’s an experienced mother and the most maternal of the cows, so will surely dote on her calf.
Of all the calves, it’s most hoped Num Oi’s will be a female - finally allowing her to establish a matrilineal line within the herd.
In both videos though it seems the pregnant mother has full run of the larger indoor stall and also the next door stall (which was usually occupied by the other cows, in this case, Dokkoon and her calf and Mek Kapah).
The gate was likely shut to allow Mali one on one bonding time with her new calf.
The other two stalls would’ve then held Kulab and Num Oi, and then probably Man Jai in the furthest stall.
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So there are three stalls in this barn? And where is Luk Chai?
being from USA I am not familiar on how this zoo’s elephant enclosure is set up. I know the new habitat they are going to will be quite elaborate.
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