Australian Asian Elephant Population 2025
- Thread starter Zoofan15
- Start date
Hope it all goes okay.It did look high perhaps they had to clear a wall or similarDid they have to swing the crate so high up with the crane?Made me feel a bit sick for him!
Yes, or maybe the truck couldn't get anywhere close to the enclosure.
Did they have to swing the crate so high up with the crane?
I thought the same and agree it’s likely due to the confines of the exhibit within the city zoo. There’s not really a lot of space from any angle.
I recall listening to a presentation by Zoos Victoria regarding the upcoming transfer of the Melbourne herd and they said the trucks transporting the elephants would be travelling close to the speed limit as the elephants find the motion soothing. Though there’s still a long way to go (literally and figuratively), I’m willing to believe the greatest potential for Putra Mas to panic was both being lifted in the crane and loaded onto the truck. With that behind him, the rest of the journey will hopefully be smooth sailing.
With his past history regarding crates its a testimony to his keepers that he did indeed get loaded and is now currently in transit, I have had concerns about his pending trip for quite some time hopefully he does not get to stressed and comes out the other end ok but pleased he's now on the move!
Yes, its been a bit of an ill believe it when its happening type of deal. Here's hoping for a smooth trip and safe arrival at Monarto.
Swanson02
Well-Known Member
Another advantage of open-range zoos is that cranes will no longer be required to transfer elephants. It will save a lot of money and time in the long run, transferring bulls between the regions' three multigenerational herds at Monarto, Werribee, and Dubbo.
In addition, all the adult bulls in the region have now been successfully crate trained and transferred at least once in their lives. With natural breeding being favoured over AI, we can guarantee they’ll be a number of transfers/exchanges over the coming decades.
Though Dubbo would benefit from a new herd barn, the set up at Werribee was praised for enabling the entire herd to be present when a cow is giving birth. This was an opportunity not afforded to them at Melbourne, but long recognised as best practice - both for the mother and calf; but also for the benefit of young females who can observe this process firsthand. The next cohort of calves born at Werribee (all to experienced mothers) will be an invaluable experience for Aiyara and Kati.
I would not say having more space automatically makes cranes not required. Maybe the crates won’t have to be lifted so high, no, but how else, exactly, do you expect the crates to be loaded onto a truck for transport? Even with a construction grade telehandler, they’re still going to be lifted into the air to be placed onto a truck. That’s just a part of the process of moving animals that are too big to trailer. I’ve seen many a crated rhino in mid air in my time. They are just momentary stressors for the long-term benefit for the animals and the population.
That’s to be expected. When Melbourne Zoo’s nine elephants transferred to Werribee Open Range Zoo in February 2025, the complex didn’t open to the public for over a month.
As a single bull, Putra Mas’ adjustment to his new surrounding will surely be much quicker and the cows will undoubtedly give him a warm reception.
In two months time, Putra Mas is anticipated to begin his 2026 musth cycle, so it’s ideal they’ll have him on site well before then.
Frankie_number_1_fan
Well-Known Member
Fingers crossed Pak Boon will be cycling soon and Putra Mas is receptive! It has now been 8 years and 5 months since she last gave birth, pushing 10 years since her last conception. Perhaps they'll also be on hand to AI her if they have not already?
They really need to try and get some more calfs from this guy I was hoping that perhaps the Werribee herd would try an AI on one of their cows and give them a broader range of bloodlines.
If Pak Boon produces a calf, it will be the longest birth interval in the region. The current record is 8 years, 11 months and 8 days between Dokkoon’s second and third calves.
The good news is Pak Boon’s ovulation cycle was previously tracking at a little under three months, so assuming no drastic changes, Putra Mas hopefully won’t have to wait long until she’s next cycling. It also means that within eight months, she would have had at least three cycles, giving a clear indication of whether natural breeding is a viable option. If Putra Mas fails to successfully mount her within that time frame, I’m inclined to believe he never will and a switch to AI would be strongly advisable (if not earlier).
That would be good to see. When Taronga Zoo announced Porntip’s first calf (born 2010) was sired by Bong Su (rather than Gung who sired Taronga’s other two calves born eight months either side of Pathi Harn), they referenced the benefit of having calves that were unrelated to each other. They achieved this again via their calves born 2016 and 2018 at Dubbo having different sires.
Dokkoon and Num-Oi are Werribee’s unrelated founder cows, so undertaking AI with one of them (using Putra Mas as a donor bull) would yield calves unrelated to each other’s previous offspring (a combined total of three surviving daughters).
In fact, if AI was undertaken for the next (second) cohort, Luk Chai could then sire the third cohort while the bull/bulls sired by Putra Mas matured. Said bulls could then breed with the existing unrelated daughters of Dokkoon/Num-Oi to produce the fourth cohort; and long term, any cows produced via the third cohort.
Since Putra Mas to date has sired two calfs (one deceased) both being females he maybe more inclined to through more cows than male calfs, If so this could be a real asset to the overall regional breeding program, I hope we see more calfs out of him sooner than later, Dubbo dropping two adult cows out of the breeding program is going to be an own goal they could be used to AI by Putra Mas!
In an ideal world, Dubbo and Monarto would have swapped their female herds. Dubbo has more viable cows than it knows what to do with; and Monarto has at most one viable cow within a 14ha elephant complex (albeit still limited in capacity by the number of stalls in their barns). Nonetheless, it is what it is and all we can hope is Dubbo get this new herd barn built sooner rather than later.
Yes, some bulls appear pre-disposed to sire one gender over the other (in Putra Mas’ case females).
This is the gender ratio of the calves born in Australasia to date (per sire):
Bong Su: 4.1
Gung: 3.1
Luk Chai: 1.2
Putra Mas: 0.2
If we combine the results of Gung and Luk Chai (father and son), their output is 4.3 calves (nearly 50:50), which sits between Bong Su (80% males) and Putra Mas (100% females). While acknowledging these are small sample sizes and we have yet to see how Bong Su’s sons (Pathi Harn and Ongard) track, it appears Putra Mas has the most chance of siring a female calf; and Pathi Harn (unrepresented thus far), the least chance based on these results.
Perth Zoo on Instagram: "After 42.5 hours on the road, we've arrived at Monarto Safari Park! Putra Mas was the perfect pachyderm passenger! "
Putra Mas has reached the building!
Putra Mas has reached the building!