Am I the only one who hated how the SSP wasted the late Machito (Zoo Miami) until his death in 2012. He only sired one calf with a female named Tribby.
Tribby became pregnant at age thirteen after naturally mating Machito in January 1992. Hurricane Andrew caused the transfer Tribby and numerous other elephants to other facilities across the country due to damage at the zoo. Tribby was about ten months pregnant at the time of her move (in her second trimester). On March 16th, 1994 a 230 pound female calf was born to Tribby. Unfortunately there were some complications. The female calf died 21 hours later during surgery that was supposed to correct a ruptured abdominal hernia.
Now, this birth proved Machito’s fertility. I am interested in knowing why he was not being used as a natural breeding bull, or a AI sire. He could have breed naturally because he was living with females Peggy and Mable but the paring with both cows never bore fruit.
But If we could go back in time I would move Kimba and Sheena (and if possible at the time Mokala, Msichana, and maybe even Tina, Star, and Mary) to Miami to mate with Machito while moving Peggy and Mable to Jacksonville to live with Missy in Jacksonville along with (Robin, Petunia, Joni, and Ladybird, I can only dream).