North American African Elephant Population

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ZCChip said:
Does anyone know how many rhinos hogle park has and if they are actively breeding? I can see only one in the media so far.

apparently there are four spaces that the elephants and rhino share.

some of the fencing on media doesn’t definitely look secure for a bull. (Cable fencing with no piping to prevent climbing over, etc).
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@Animals R AMAZING! is right, both rhinos are post-reproductive. One male and one female, half-siblings, one is 45 the other is 41. I believe the plan was for the Rhinos to only be housed in 'Elephant Encounter' until the African Savanna was built, but that was 9 years later and I think the keepers thought it would best to leave them in the elephant exhibit for their final years rather than readjusting them to the Savanna. They'll likely be held there until they pass.

The exhibit does have four spaces. The first is the east habitat, it features an 11,000-gallon pool that is 10'6 feet deep. The next is a working yard, this is where keepers often do demos. The next is the west habitat which is occupied by the rhinos. Behind the west habitat is a flex yard, off-view. The habitat is no longer capable of holding a bull making breeding difficult. I am not sure how many females the facility is capable of holding, but it's at least four with the rhinos in the mix.

Back when the zoo was named one of the 10 worst by IDA, the zoo made a statement saying "Our current master plan calls for a greater investment in elephants, with bigger barn, additional yards, and large walking paths. We are committed to the species.” So I don't see the zoo giving them up any time soon, but I am not sure how soon they'll update the exhibit, possibly when the rhinos pass?
 
I might be showing my ignorance here but I feel like it would have been a good idea to move Christie and Zuri when Dari died in 2015 and integrate them into a breeding herd, until Hogle's rhinos passed and the new facility could be constructed. They could have then received their elephants back along with any surviving offspring they may have produced, if any.

I'm sure there were good reasons why this may not have been done though.
 
I feel like that statement by Hogle was kicking the can down the road. First of all an admission that a not even 15 year old exhibit is pretty inadequate for elephants. But also just look at the zoos current map. Its hard to find any way to assemble more than an acre for elephants without moving or demolishing newer exhibits. They probably don’t want to admit that elephants are lower priority in there not released master plan (as I believe a new small mammal building and ape exhibits are a focus), but it just doesn’t seem feasible to build any modern complex given the site constraints.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Why not develop the elephant area into something different or complimentary to their animal collection and phase out elephants altogether?!
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I 100% agree but all indications are the zoo wants to keep elephants as long as possible despite it being pretty clear they will not be able to keep the species down the road. I wish they would integrate both females into a breeding herd, but at max see them relying on AI or doing nothing at all (kind of a Louisville Zoo situation).
 
nczoofan said:
I 100% agree but all indications are the zoo wants to keep elephants as long as possible despite it being pretty clear they will not be able to keep the species down the road. I wish they would integrate both females into a breeding herd, but at max see them relying on AI or doing nothing at all (kind of a Louisville Zoo situation).
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I am sure there are plenty ops to integrate both in a fitting location and herd.
 
Statement from the Monterey Zoo website:
In an effort to do our very best for our animals and in keeping with modern zoological standards, Monterey Zoo has decided to temporarily relocate our one remaining African elephant, Butch, to another accredited zoological facility nearby where he will once again have the company of three others of [his] own kind. We do however, plan to offer our beautiful new facility to other elephants in need of a home one day, at which time we will bring Butch back to the community that cares so very much about him.
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Elephants | Monterey Zoo
 
csartie said:
Does anyone know the oldest age an African elephant has given birth at?
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Off the top of my head, that distinction would probably fall to Bahati at the Ramat Gan Zoo in Israel currently. She had her last calf at the age of 45 years old.

Edit: I just reread your question. Hypothetically, an elephant cow (of either species) that has had a healthy life, both overall and in terms of reproduction, can expect to be able to give birth up until their mid 40s to mid 50s, depending on the individual.
 
Hyak_II said:
Off the top of my head, that distinction would probably fall to Bahati at the Ramat Gan Zoo in Israel currently. She had her last calf at the age of 45 years old.

Edit: I just reread your question. Hypothetically, an elephant cow (of either species) that has had a healthy life, both overall and in terms of reproduction, can expect to be able to give birth up until their mid 40s to mid 50s, depending on the individual.
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Thanks! Also you got it right the first time, I was looking for a specific record ;)

I was also told the record for a captive-born cow is 32 years (Norris and her calf Noah) if anyone else is curious about that as well like I was!
 
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