Bored / depressed animals

Would anyone know what age elephants become "immune" to herpes, as in they become to strong to catch it, or is that the case at all with elephants?
 
Africans can carry it, hence it not being a good idea to keep Asians and Africans together.
Pertinax, I did wonder weather everything written in that book was true, even though it was written by Molly Badham.
 
ashley-h said:
Pertinax, I did wonder weather everything written in that book was true, even though it was written by Molly Badham.
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I think you'll find it was her recollections, it could even have been 'ghost written' -though that's speculation on my part. I've only read parts of it but I know some other sections are not fully accurate, such as the story of 'Tara the Tigress'.
 
I only think its right that Asians should be kept with asians and Africans with Africans (for various reasons) now this has given more insight, Many sites read that "Africans and Asians can and should be kept together if living in isolation" But research has found that keeping them together can sometimes lead to a lot of miscommunication between elephants, The incident in Emmen with Suzan and Annabel is perhaps a good example,
 
Why? What happened with those two?
I know the two in Paignton zoo have lived together for as long as I can remember, and I've never seen them interacting or anything.
 
Oh, its not usually its just that particular sounds and trumpets an asian might find the message different form an african, a bit like diffrent languages,
 
That's my point, I guess they kind of speak different languages, so do they benefit from being kept together at all?
And what was the incident between Suzan and Annabel at Emmen?
 
Sorry didn't get you at first,
Suzan attacked Anabel very viciously and often. She still has scars on the side of her from Suzan's attack, Suzan was moved but I have no idea where,
 
That's not good, although maybe they just didn't get on regardless of weather they were African or Asian?
Duchess and Gay at Paignton have never fallen out (not that I've heard of at least) and I think they've lived together since the 70's, and Wendy and Christina lived together at Bristol for years, so I assume they got on well.
Is Paignton the only UK zoo to have both species? (or subspecies...? What would they be called :-s ?).
 
ashley-h said:
Is Paignton the only UK zoo to have both species? (or subspecies...? What would they be called :-s ?).
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It is species, they're totally seperate, despite the fact there has been a hybrid.

African elephants are Loxodonta Africana, whereas Asian Elephants are Elephas Maximus.

And Paignton is the only current UK zoo to keep both elephant species, although from memory, Chester (including hybrid calf), London and Whipsnade have kept both at the same time (probably more as well).
 
Ah ok. Bristol has also had both at the same time, and so has Longleat.
I don't actually know what Paignton will do when their current elephants die, as there's not enough room to have a breeding herd.
I guess they could do something like Dublin did, or just have older non-breeding females.
 
CZJimmy said:
It is species, they're totally seperate, despite the fact there has been a hybrid.

African elephants are Loxodonta Africana, whereas Asian Elephants are Elephas Maximus.

And Paignton is the only current UK zoo to keep both elephant species, although from memory, Chester (including hybrid calf), London and Whipsnade have kept both at the same time (probably more as well).
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Didn't sheba give birth to the hybrid Motty?
 
Western Plains in Australia, keeps the two species, yet they keep them totally seperate, they show a great display for kids to tell apart the species,
 
the elephants at paignton have had episodes where they have not been compatible, although from what I can tell these are infrequent, brief, and not necessarily due to them being different species.

I think Wendy at Bristol was particularly difficult to mix with other asians, maybe an African cow was pugnacious enough to strike the right balance for that little moated horror they were kept in.
 
Come to think of it communication could be quite good in some cases, mating has been seen and even a hybrid has been made. But this could mean very little for mating is usually just based on the scent of oeustrus,
 
johnstoni said:
I think Wendy at Bristol was particularly difficult to mix with other asians, maybe an African cow was pugnacious enough to strike the right balance for that little moated horror they were kept in.
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She was, although I think they tried with one, maybe two elephants before giving up and keeping her alone for god knows how many years. They could have tried a bit harder in my opinion.
And yes, their enclosure was terrible, although I can only really remember seeing the new enclosure which now houses Okapi, but that wasn't great either.
I've also put a picture of "Motty" up in the gallery.
 
At least Wendy was walked through the grounds. I've no idea if all their elephants were exercised in this way. She was notoriously tempermental, even objecting to the arrival of a new okapi in a nearby enclosure a few years back.
 
I don't know weather giving rides counts as excersise, but Rosie used to do that a lot.
I didn't know Wendy was tempermental like that :-S
 
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