North American African Elephant Population 2024

In the wilds a mature adult dominant African elephant bull is 30-35 years old. Bull Dus Must is nowhere near that age and on top ... rather unfortunate his mother remains in the group. No adult elephant cow will accept a young sub-adult or juvenile as a prospective mate. I foresee the lack of breeding continue for the future ... (@Hyak_II signalled his stunted growth and generally being a hothead while at Fresno Zoo, is another ominuous sign ... not good.

It is rather unfortunate that SD-WAP management seems and continues to rely on an immature / subadult / less than ideal bull to do the goods. Policy in NA zoos around mature bulls really needs a lot more work to mirror the conditions prevalent in the wilds and relevant social structure, bull dominance over cows at adult age and the characteristics of a fully mature bull able to successfully breed African cow elephants

Let the word go out.
The name is Vus'Musi. Of course.
FWIIW I stand by all I wrote.


NOTA BENE: Very unfortunate and annoying that automated translator after typing your message keeps time and time again changing what I wrote and thinking for itself (AI / GPT who needs it).
 
In the wilds a mature adult dominant African elephant bull is 30-35 years old. Bull Dus Must is nowhere near that age and on top ... rather unfortunate his mother remains in the group. No adult elephant cow will accept a young sub-adult or juvenile as a prospective mate. I foresee the lack of breeding continue for the future ... (@Hyak_II signalled his stunted growth and generally being a hothead while at Fresno Zoo, is another ominuous sign ... not good.

It is rather unfortunate that SD-WAP management seems and continues to rely on an immature / subadult / less than ideal bull to do the goods. Policy in NA zoos around mature bulls really needs a lot more work to mirror the conditions prevalent in the wilds and relevant social structure, bull dominance over cows at adult age and the characteristics of a fully mature bull able to successfully breed African cow elephants

Let the word go out.
The issue simply lies in the fact that there are not nearly enough mature, proven bulls in NA to sustain a genetically healthy population using them alone. There's Jackson, Mabu, Maclean and Callee as truly successful bulls, and that's...really it. There are a few other promising bulls at other facilities but the options are extremely slim, and there's no reason to move these emerging breeding bulls when they've only had a calf or so a-piece thus far.
As much as facilities like San Diego would LIKE a more experienced bull, Musi is...kind of one of the only available bachelors that SHOULD be able to develop into a sturdy, strong breeding bull. His social stunting is certianly a roadblock and I agree his transfer back was a huge gamble, but he's evidently improving. Bringing in another young bull (really the ONLY option in NA at this point given the stark amount of older non-breeders) would be the same gamble.

I'm no expert on the facility, but others have pointed out that Musi will very likely never share the same space as his mother for the forseeable future, so her being a variable in the females' acceptance of him shouldn't be an issue.

That being said, further discussion of this should really be moved to the speculation thread. It's already crowding up the population thread as it is, and distracts from the initial shared news about Musi!
 
The issue simply lies in the fact that there are not nearly enough mature, proven bulls in NA to sustain a genetically healthy population using them alone. There's Jackson, Mabu, Maclean and Callee as truly successful bulls, and that's...really it. There are a few other promising bulls at other facilities but the options are extremely slim, and there's no reason to move these emerging breeding bulls when they've only had a calf or so a-piece thus far.
As much as facilities like San Diego would LIKE a more experienced bull, Musi is...kind of one of the only available bachelors that SHOULD be able to develop into a sturdy, strong breeding bull. His social stunting is certianly a roadblock and I agree his transfer back was a huge gamble, but he's evidently improving. Bringing in another young bull (really the ONLY option in NA at this point given the stark amount of older non-breeders) would be the same gamble.

I'm no expert on the facility, but others have pointed out that Musi will very likely never share the same space as his mother for the forseeable future, so her being a variable in the females' acceptance of him shouldn't be an issue.

That being said, further discussion of this should really be moved to the speculation thread. It's already crowding up the population thread as it is, and distracts from the initial shared news about Musi!

Sdhula and Tendaji are also 2 additional current breeding bulls we have for African elephants in the United States that have sired calves and are proven breeders…
 
Fantastic news from Disney Animal Kingdom. Nadirah and Maclean’s calf, Corra. Has had her debut on the Savannah. On another note 2 more baby elephants are expected in 2025.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ingdom-savanna/?CMP=SOC-DPFY24Q2wo0215240003A

I think this means total were at 6 African Elephanfs due in 2025 in the United States. Well that we know of anyway. Cause we have 4 girls at the Sedgwick County Zoo due next year and now 2 at Disneys Animal Kingdom also due next year.
 
Fantastic news from Disney Animal Kingdom. Nadirah and Maclean’s calf, Corra. Has had her debut on the Savannah. On another note 2 more baby elephants are expected in 2025.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ingdom-savanna/?CMP=SOC-DPFY24Q2wo0215240003A
There are four candidates:

0.1 Donna (1984) - last bred 2017
0.1 Vasha (1985) - last bred 2011
0.1 Kianga (2004) - never bred
0.1 Luna (2010) - never bred

With that in mind, I'd hope Kianga is one of these pregnant females. Luna's a good chance being at the age where a first time calf is usually welcomed.

Donna's a smaller chance imo considering she already has three daughters within the herd; and Vasha would really be pushing the reproductive boundaries last giving birth thirteen years ago now.

Hopefully someone can confirm in the meantime.:)
 
Tonka (Zoo Knoxville) is transferring out in a few months:

Tonka the elephant starts crate training | wbir.com

Tonka is Zoo Knoxville's remaining bull African Elephant and is the largest of his herd and in North America. Now, he is preparing to leave Zoo Knoxville in the coming months.

This poses some challenges in the zoo moving him to Hohenwald, home to a community of aging elephants in an Elephant Sanctuary.
 
According to vets at Disney’s animal kingdom, Luna is in fact one of the pregnant cows!
Great news considering she will be at the perfect age to have her first calf next year.

It also makes sense as Disney made an effort to group her with Nadirah during Corra's birth to give her further experience before she has a calf of her own.

It'll be interesting to see who the sire is. Obviously Tsavo or Jabali are candidates, but there's also a chance AI could've been used.
 
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