North American African Elephant Population 2023

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John Marchwick said:
According to @Kudu21 gave birth to her second calf, a male on February 26th, 2023 at the Dallas Zoo. This is what the zoo sent in an email announcement to him!

“African elephant “Mlilo” has given birth to a healthy male calf! From an email sent to the zoo’s mailing list:

We are thrilled to announce our African elephant, Mlilo, gave birth to a healthy, 290-pound baby boy on Sunday, Feb. 26. Both mom and baby are doing well.

The animal team had been closely monitoring Mlilo for several weeks as her birth window neared. Signs of labor started in the early hours of Sunday morning, around 2 a.m. Her labor progressed quickly, and baby boy arrived shortly after, around 2:27 a.m. With the help of mom, the little one was able to stand up within 30 minutes of birth and started nursing right away.

Zola, another female in our herd, supported Mlilo through the birth, just as elephants do in the wild. Elephants are known to celebrate the birth of a new calf in the herd, and Zola has really shown her happiness for our baby boy. The little one follows both mom and Zola around, and when mom needs a break, Zola watches him so she can eat.

Our baby elephant has already started hitting his milestones! He has begun learning to "tusk" the ground, a very common elephant behavior where they use their tusks to manipulate their environment. (Baby elephants don't have tusks yet, but they will start growing in at a rate of one to three inches every year.)

We’re giving mom and baby boy all the space and quiet time they need to bond with each other, as well as the rest of the herd. It is such a joy to welcome this beautiful elephant calf to our elephant herd!”
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Wonderful news! :D

She was one of those I had to give birth this year, so it’s awesome to see she has!

This would be her second calf, and her first since Ajabu back in 2016. It’s also great to see Tendaji finally prove himself as a breeder. It took some time, but to be fair he was (and still is) a relatively young bull. Being wild born, he is very valuable, so this calf will be one valuable bull (with two wild born parents).

Hopefully Zola’s also pregnant and due soon as well!:)
 
John Marchwick said:
EDIT: also the zoo posted confirmation Tendaji is the father himself! I don’t know if he naturally conceived this calf or not but I do know he knows how to breed cause he bred with Zola in the fall of 2022.
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It’s likely the calf was naturally conceived. The zoo would’ve mentioned it was conceived via AI if so.
 
Kudu21 said:
She is not. She was put together with Tendaji for breeding back in the fall of 2022. She is a lot more timid than Mlilo and has had to build her confidence. They will likely be trying again now that it is spring.
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That’s a shame. She’s getting older, so if she dosen’t conceive the next few goes, they might have to resort to AI if they want her to get pregnant. Hopefully the addition of another calf will help boost her confidence.

There was a similar case in Australia with a female who didn’t allow the bull to mate her. In the end, they resorted to AI (of which was unfortunately unsuccessful).
 
Jambo said:
That’s a shame. She’s getting older, so if she dosen’t conceive the next few goes, they might have to resort to AI if they want her to get pregnant. Hopefully the addition of another calf will help boost her confidence.

There was a similar case in Australia with a female who didn’t allow the bull to mate her. In the end, they resorted to AI (of which was unfortunately unsuccessful).
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I will say I’m really glad Zola was present for the birth of this new calf for this reason. Hopefully it doesn’t get to that point where she will have to be artificially inseminated.
 
John Marchwick said:
I will say I’m really glad Zola was present for the birth of this new calf for this reason. Hopefully it doesn’t get to that point where she will have to be artificially inseminated.
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Witnessing a birth will be essential, not only for her to develop skills but to also support Mlilo during the birth. Herd births replicate natural behavior, and it's good to see zoos around the world beginning to implement them in captive situations recently.

If Zola dosen't conceive this spring, I think it might be the time to consider AI. She's about 19 this year, so they're pushing the limits on her reproductive span.
 
Jambo said:
Witnessing a birth will be essential, not only for her to develop skills but to also support Mlilo during the birth. Herd births replicate natural behavior, and it's good to see zoos around the world beginning to implement them in captive situations recently.

If Zola dosen't conceive this spring, I think it might be the time to consider AI. She's about 19 this year, so they're pushing the limits on her reproductive span.
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@Kudu21 said though Zola has allowed Tendaji to breed with her and they have bred before. There’s not point in speculating on that though especially considering this thread is not the place for it.
 
John Marchwick said:
@Kudu21 said though Zola has allowed Tendaji to breed with her and they have bred before. There’s not point in speculating on that though especially considering this thread is not the place for it.
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They also said Zola is not pregnant and they'll be trying again this spring?
 
John Marchwick said:
They are yes from what I understand. It’s promising Zola and Tendaji have bred naturally prior.
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You are misquoting me. To directly quote my post from September 2022:

African elephant bull “Tendaji” was on exhibit in the South Savanna habitat with cows “Mlilo” and “Zola”and adolescent male “Ajabu” today, and he was observed showing quite a bit of interest in “Zola” — including some mounting attempts.
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“Attempts” signifies that said mountings were not successful — hence my new post further explaining the situation with Zola now that Mlilo has successfully produced a calf with Tendaji.
 
Kudu21 said:
You are misquoting me. To directly quote my post from September 2022:



“Attempts” signifies that said mountings were not successful — hence my new post further explaining the situation with Zola now that Mlilo has successfully produced a calf with Tendaji.
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Yes, thanks for that.:) It wasn't making a lot of sense to me.
 
Kudu21 said:
You are misquoting me. To directly quote my post from September 2022:



“Attempts” signifies that said mountings were not successful — hence my new post further explaining the situation with Zola now that Mlilo has successfully produced a calf with Tendaji.
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My apologies. Thanks for clarifying.
 
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