Yes. My point with the natural breeding is that they can breed asap when she cycles for the first time when he arrives at the zoo. Versus waiting for the team to assemble.
Australian Asian Elephant Population 2025
- Thread starter Zoofan15
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Yes. My point with the natural breeding is that they can breed asap when she cycles for the first time when he arrives at the zoo. Versus waiting for the team to assemble.
I wonder if at a later stage depending of the herd size weather Werribee could/would add another cow/herd barn if it leads to a better way of handling a larger sized herd. They should have enough extra room to add one if they wanted to. I can't recall if the current barn can accommodate any keepers if they need to stay for a night or two when calfs are expected so they can be on hand if required?
They could, but there's not really any space with/around the current barn without inhibiting on their current outside space. It didn't look like there were any keeper facilities adjacent to the cow barn like they had at Melbourne, but there could be as part of the back of the cow barn is out of view, and to be honest, I would be surprised if there wasn't.
It's also important to remember that a key design consideration with this barn was to provide enough space for the whole herd to be able to sleep together as they would in the wild. Therefore, I don't see a second separate barn ever being a possibility as it would mean the separation of the herd overnight.
If anything, I can only maybe see a new barn being built eventually. But that would still be a fair while away.
Ultimately funding will limit expansion of the existing facilities. The Werribee complex was designed with the intention of it housing elephants for the next 100 years and with that in mind I doubt large scale modifications would be considered necessary for decades.
Furthermore, Werribee has quite the backlog of additional projects (Cheetah, Spotted hyena, African lion, SkySafari etc) which have all been on hold while the elephant complex took centre stage. People are now flocking to see the elephants; but to ensure continued visitation, other areas of the park will require attention. These should now be the focus of any funding Werribee receives.
Luke899
Well-Known Member
Now this is very random, but I just realised that Burma actually features in the 2009 TV series “The Wot Wots” lol. It was filmed at Auckland zoo and Melbourne zoo and I noticed a familiar elephant in the intro.
Not even sure if it is Burma, It is definitely an Australasia elephant
Not even sure if it is Burma, It is definitely an Australasia elephant
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That's Kashin, Burma's former companion. She passed away in 2009 at the age of 40.
Putra Mas transferring to Monarto late spring:
From Monarto’s socials:
World Elephant Day Update – Big News!
This World Elephant Day, we’re giving you an update on our incredible elephant herd and announcing something very special!
Asian Elephant bull Putra Mas will move from Perth Zoo to Monarto Safari Park late this spring, becoming the final member of our founding herd.
His arrival is being carefully planned, with a new barn and habitat spaces nearly ready to ensure he settles in comfortably. In the meantime, Burma, Permai, Pak Boon and Tang Mo are continuing to settle into life at Monarto. Our Elephant team is focused on giving each elephant the space and choice to build relationships naturally, from forming close bonds to enjoying quiet time on their own. Putra Mas’ arrival will bring a whole new dynamic to the mix, and we can’t wait to share more of the herd’s journey with you.
From Monarto’s socials:
World Elephant Day Update – Big News!
This World Elephant Day, we’re giving you an update on our incredible elephant herd and announcing something very special!
Asian Elephant bull Putra Mas will move from Perth Zoo to Monarto Safari Park late this spring, becoming the final member of our founding herd.
His arrival is being carefully planned, with a new barn and habitat spaces nearly ready to ensure he settles in comfortably. In the meantime, Burma, Permai, Pak Boon and Tang Mo are continuing to settle into life at Monarto. Our Elephant team is focused on giving each elephant the space and choice to build relationships naturally, from forming close bonds to enjoying quiet time on their own. Putra Mas’ arrival will bring a whole new dynamic to the mix, and we can’t wait to share more of the herd’s journey with you.
I still hope that Putra Mas will show keen interest in other females upon his arrival over being interested in Permai again, hastening Permai's interest in them thus creating a coheisve herd. But if that back fires, at least Permai will always enjoy Putra Mas' company with an occassional visit from Pak Boon.
He's a bull, so naturally his instincts should take over and he would be interested in the girls (including Permai).
I'm hoping we'll get good indication of whether there's strong intention to breed from Pak Boon. All going well, he should be introduced to her when she first cycles. As history shows, Pak Boon cycles quite regularly, so that should be an added benefit in aiding her to fall pregnant sooner rather than later.
I agree. At the very least it’ll be stimulating for the cows to have a bull on site and vice versa, for Putra Mas to have those interactions with the female herd.
Putra Mas lived in an adjacent exhibit to Permai at Perth, but the open range site is set up so much better to facilitate interactions between the groups.
At the moment it appears a bit of a race against time, the exhibit needs to be completed including the bull barn/fencing, they need to ship Putra Mas before summer hits and if possible before Pak Boons cycle, It would be great if it all works out as desired but its a bit of a long shot.
And most importantly before Putra Mas enters his 2026 musth cycle. If he goes into musth again that would prohibit him from travelling until at least May and potentially undo a lot of the work they’ve done on crate training.
It’s a shame to be honest no thought was given to undertaking AI with Pak Boon while she was still at Taronga; or sending over Thong Dee (pregnant) from Dubbo.
I agree they could of done better on the breeding side of things having such long gaps between calfs for the cows might not be the best option
Not to mention what appears to be retiring two cows (Porntip and Thong Dee) from the breeding programme after their last calves at 26 and 19 years respectively.
I can accept Thong Dee being retired considering she and Gung are the region’s most well represented founders via Luk Chai (though I think she could have brought demographic value to Monarto); but retiring Porntip is illogical. Pathi Harn has yet to sire any calves and Kanlaya is only seven years old, with a reasonable threat of EEHV (despite progress overseas with the vaccine trail and protective testing at Dubbo).
I hope Anjalee’s calf (which should arrive in October) is female, which will at least strengthen Dubbo’s efforts to establish a multigenerational herd.
In my view Dubbo seems to have dropped the ball with their herd and are lagging far behind the Werribee herd when there are so few elephants in this region as it is dropping off breed-able cows is counter productive in my view. The way it could pan out in the future is that Werribee will take the main roll as far as elephant breeding is concerned.
Update on Anjalee’s pregnancy:
Anjalee’s calf is due in December 2025, not October 2025 as was previously reported:
Anjalee’s calf is due in December 2025, not October 2025 as was previously reported:
A keeper actually mentioned Melbourne and Dubbo had planned it out to transfer Luk Chai across in time for Dokkoon's cycle. The timing gave Dokkoon the best opportunity to conceive rather than waiting another potential three to four months until she next conceived.
Dokkoon cycled less than a month following Luk Chai's arrival, with Num Oi and Mali doing so the following month. Mali, as has been mentioned, delivered Roi Yim a few weeks earlier than anticipated, as did Num Oi from memory.
I know Luk Chai was actually supposed to transfer earlier in the year too (around Autumn), but after covid hit, plans were significantly impacted, so Melbourne was really rushing to get Luk Chai across before any further restrictions were put into place (keep in mind, back then it was really unknown how the pandemic would still continue to unfold).
With that in mind, I do wonder whether the same could be done with Putra Mas/Pak Boon, ie. with Putra Mas's transfer lined up and timed to align with Pak Boon cycling following his arrival.
With them cycling it would make his introductions easier as well, I wonder if that was determining factor on timing as well.
If they can sync up Putra Mas with the Taronga girls, it would at least make there introductions easier, possibly.
Are you surprised tho ?
Western plains seems to have terrible management. They are precariously living on a hope that Anjalee's calf goes well and that there adolescent cow makes it to an age to breed. Yet with our current run with EEHV. That's a rather large gamble to take.
There's no excuse to not have at least 1 other cow pregnant.
A well socialised bull should be capable of interacting with cows irregardless of whether they’re cycling.
While Luk Chai arrived when Dokkoon was cycling, he got an equally warm reception from Kulab and had no issues integrating with Num-Oi and Mali, who cycled later.
How Burma will respond to Putra Mas is the biggest unknown. She hasn’t seen a bull since she was at least eight years old. Permai will remember Putra Mas from their Perth days; and Pak Boon and Tang Mo have both been around a bull into their adulthood.