North American African Elephant Reproduction

Furthermore, it would certainly be desirable for the Canadian Tutume to move to a breeding group. The best option would be Pittsburgh. Here he could treat Savannah, Victoria, Zuri and Angelina. His genes are very important to the American population because they are not represented anywhere. It's a shame in cold Canada. But Sarah could stay there. I'd bring Carole from Hemmingford to her. Junnot would also go south somewhere because he is genetically very valuable.

Places where Tutume or Junot should move: (Pittsburgh would be the best for Tutume)
- Montgomery: breeding with Tanya and Makena
- Indianapolis: breeding with Kubwa, Ivory and Zahara
- Nort Carolina- Asheboro: breeding with Batir and possibly Tonga
- Winston: breeding with Moja
- Dallas: breeding with Zola and Mlilo
- Hogle: breeding with Christie and Zuri
- Toledo: breeding with Renee
- Maryland: breeding with Lil Felix
 
Some of the cows are a little too old to breed healthily. For instance, Renee and Twiggy are fourty and thirty-four years old for one. I suggest phasing the two out and get younger cows for Lucas.
 
Also an option, but I read that the Toledo Zoo is again trying to get Renee pregnant by artificial insemination. If the elephant cows have their first elephant for the first 25 years, they are able to breed for nearly fifty years. And Renee is 40 years old and could have another elephant. She had already two calfs - Louie and Lucas. Unfortunately, this option is not for Twiggy, she never had a baby.
 
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Now I have written a list of cows that should be introduced into the breed and do not have enough space in the zoo to transport a bull or have zoo failures in breeding.

Asali- Memphis: I suggest, together with Gina, to transfer to Fresno or Atlanta.
Fresno- it has a large facility and it would surely be worth two more cows to complement their group, which consists of the death of Miss Bets from two cows and a bull. Moreover, Asali would have the opportunity to breed.
Atlanta- after opening a new device, Kelly and Tara will complete. Sure, a breeding bull will soon follow.

Lungile- Reid Park: wait to see if he is confronted with a successful Mabu, then possibly AI.

Vasha- Disney Animal Kingdom: if she hasn't mated with Maclean yet, I'd suggest performing AI as usual.

Ellie- Lowry Park: as I have already mentioned in a recent article, Mabu might have been successful with her as well.

Lil Felix- Maryland: since Tuffy is not successful with her, perform AI.

Batir- Nort Carolina: surely the import of another bull would certainly help because the conditions here are not bad. Whether one of the two existing bulls will have to leave is not so important.

Moja- Winston: I would suggest transferring to Jacksonville or Maryland (after opening a new facility) or AI.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Is it not time to have Msholo reproductively evaluated? ;)
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I think he has been evaluated through semen collection, and that's why he remains for new attempts. He's a beautiful specimen. Keepers say he's aloof and keep him in the lower paddock, but maybe with this large group right next door, perhaps he's unhappy being by himself. Way back in 2012, I was there on the day Q'nisa was born, and Msholo was part of the whole herd then.
 
Elephant Enthusiast, Bravo again for another time of invaluable research.

I have a question because I've been a bit out of the loop on Africans recently:. Has Pittsburgh maintained their free contact and still have no AZA accreditation? Is an unaccredited zoo eliminated in the TAG's SSP's?
 
0.1 Mikki gave birth to a male calf on August 2, 2019 at the Louisville Zoo.
Louisville Zoo Welcomes Male Calf | Louisville Zoo

The birth of Mikki's calf is a significant achievement for the reproduction of African elephants in North America as Mikki conceived through artificial insemination, the calf is genetically valuable, and there have only been six successful births in the past five years.

Even though I was hoping for a female calf so Mikki could grow her matriarchal herd, I'm glad the pregnancy and birth went smoothly. Congratulations to the Louisville Zoo for another successful birth.
 
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AmbikaFan said:
Elephant Enthusiast, Bravo again for another time of invaluable research.

I have a question because I've been a bit out of the loop on Africans recently: Has Pittsburgh maintained their free contact and still have no AZA accreditation? Is an unaccredited zoo eliminated in the TAG's SSP's?
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Thank you @AmbikaFan.

Unfortunately, I'm unsure as to the Pittsburgh Zoo's current management style however, I would assume the institution continues to work their elephants in free contact. In addition, the zoo is still not accredited by AZA since renouncing their accreditation in 2015.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with how AZA and the SSP collaborate, if they even do, however, I would assume that an unaccredited zoo is not eliminated from the SSP as AZA deals with the accreditation and standards of North American Zoos while the SSP deals with the reproduction and studbooking of different species.
 
Elephant Enthusiast said:
Thank you @AmbikaFan.

Unfortunately, I'm unsure as to the Pittsburgh Zoo's current management style however, I would assume the institution continues to work their elephants in free contact. In addition, the zoo is still not accredited by AZA since renouncing their accreditation in 2015.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with how AZA and the SSP collaborate, if they even do, however, I would assume that an unaccredited zoo is not eliminated from the SSP as AZA deals with the accreditation and standards of North American Zoos while the SSP deals with the reproduction and studbooking of different species.
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More to the point, since the African elephant SSP isn't at the Green Level, non-AZA members can still participate in it.
 
Elephant Enthusiast said:
0.1 Mikki gave birth to a male calf on August 2, 2019 at the Louisville Zoo.
Louisville Zoo Welcomes Male Calf | Louisville Zoo

The birth of Mikki's calf is a significant achievement for the reproduction of African elephants in North America as Mikki conceived through artificial insemination, the calf is genetically valuable, and there have only been six successful births in the past five years.

Even though I was hoping for a female calf so Mikki could grow her matriarchal herd, I'm glad the pregnancy and birth went smoothly. Congratulations to the Louisville Zoo for another successful birth.
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Father should be Jackson, right?
 
The Reid Park Zoo announced that 30 year old 0.1 Litsemba’s pregnancy is progressing well and she should be expecting in either March or April of 2020. The sire of the expectant calf is 30 year old 1.0 Mabhulane.
New baby elephant expected to join Reid Park Zoo in March, April | KVOA News4Tucson

Litsemba’s pregnancy is very significant as she is, to my knowledge, the only African elephant in North America expecting in 2020. In addition, the impending birth is very important for the North American population as only 14 viable calves have been born since 2011. In contrast, 34 viable calves have been born in Europe since 2011. Also, the expectant calf will make history as the second elephant calf to be born, and conceived, at the Reid Park Zoo; the first being Nandi in August of 2014.
 
Zoos are really holding news of pregnancy close to the vest everywhere, waiting until the very final months of gestation. Chester stayed mum a long time, but Sundara just had a baby girl, and we just learned that Shanti will be having her baby soon in Houston.

I don't know fully whether the difference in breeding success compared to Europe (and Canada's African Lion Safari) is due to the late and less frequent breeding philosophy we have here, or a significant difference in the number of breeding specimens, but our Asian birth numbers would be far worse than those you post for Africans if it didn't include ALS, which I believe has had more calves in the last six years than the rest of North America combined. Why, oh why, can't we start utilizing everyone's obviously more-successful breeding strategies?

Our one hope is that perhaps there are indeed pregnant girls out there whose pregnancies just won't be announced until month 20 of gestation. The one bit of wisdom in this is that it spares expectant moms anxiety from activists who might come and cause a disturbing ruckus. Rani at NZP was not pregnant as of 1/1/20, but with all these announcements now coming just before birth, I wonder if there isn't some AZA protocol now to hold off until the last two months. I wonder if keepers are allowed to give us honest answers any more.
 
Elephantelephant said:
Also an option, but I read that the Toledo Zoo is again trying to get Renee pregnant by artificial insemination. If the elephant cows have their first elephant for the first 25 years, they are able to breed for nearly fifty years. And Renee is 40 years old and could have another elephant. She had already two calfs - Louie and Lucas. Unfortunately, this option is not for Twiggy, she never had a baby.
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There's a second part to this rule that disqualifies even more of our females. Even if a mom has had successful births in the past, if it has been more than five years since the last birth, breeding is not recommended/allowed. By and large, American zoos have followed this criteria as well, but there are a couple exceptions:. Columbus's Phoebe hadn't had a calf since Beco more than 7 years prior, but they bred her anyway, and she did carry her calf full term. Maharani looks on paper as if it's been way too long for her to even be a candidate, but she was pregnant when she arrived in DC and had a miscarriage. That started the five-year clock over again, but now it's been past 7 years, and they are still actively breeding her with Spike. I guess the AZA is willing to take more chances with the population declining each year, but Spike is a valuable bull with especially-valuable, under-represented genes. Every time I see him, I realize that the AZA is not going to keep him in DC indefinitely if nothing is happening with Rani. He'll be moved somewhere like St. Louis, and another one of our dwindling number of breeding centers will become a retirement center.
 
0.1 Litsemba gave birth to a female calf on April 6, 2020, at the Reid Park Zoo. The sire is 1.0 Mabhulane (Reid Park Zoo).

Reid Park Zoo Welcomes New Elephant Calf to the Herd | Reid Park Zoo

The birth of Litsemba's calf is an important addition to the population as the reproduction of African elephants in North America has significantly diminished in recent years. Also, since the new calf is female, she will be a vital part of the breeding plan for the species in the region, once she reaches maturity, in addition to being a vital part of growing a multi-generational herd at the Reid Park Zoo. Further, the calf is genetically valuable as she is a first-generation captive elephant despite having multiple siblings through her father, Mabhulane. Overall, the Reid Park Zoo's newest elephant calf will be a crucial individual for the reproduction of African elephants in North America and a significant member of Litsemba's matriarchal herd.
 
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