I thibk I've seen proof that Sdudla has been interested in mating the 2 adult cows. Whilst their two daughters are now at perfect conception ages, their mom's might soon become too old for more offspring if he doesn't impregante them fast.
It's been twelve years now since the last births, so they'd need to be pregnant right now if they stand any chance at having any further calves.
At this point, the only bulls I can see them swapping Sdudla with would Mabu or Callee as they have sired lots of offspring and both went to Fresno and Sedgwick to breed the cows at these two asap and two bulls who failed to breed and these two respective facilities were swapped out with them. I can also see one of Mabu's bachelor sons going to Tampa given how they had idyllic herd environments.
Considering both bulls already have extensive representation, I doubt either will be getting a look into another breeding situation anytime soon.
I believe there were rumblings about Sdudla not being interested in breeding the cows despite efforts, but I also thought I'd heard that they'd put their program on pause for some reason until 2022 or 2023. Not sure which, if either, is true.
I have lately started questioning his breeding capabilities and whether he might actually become a behavioral nonbreeder. He might actually be better off as a bachelor mentor bull or a geriatric cow companion. He definitely isn't a breeding machine like Mabu or Jackson was. Even if he is still an adept breeder, he'll need to be sent out immediately anyways as it's been pointed out, the only longer term viable females would be Mavi and Mpumi. The only hurdle there is that they are Sdudla's daughters.
This is just personal, but I actually wouldn't mind a matriline split for Tampa to ship Mavi and Mpumi out to a zoo with a proven breeding bull in return for a different mother-daughter/sister pair or group of cows and just start again.
Sdudla's situation is interesting, but I wouldn't be so quick to call him a behavioral nonbreeder. He's been to only a handful of facilities in his lifetime and has produced a decent amount of offspring for those facilities. If it is true that Tampa actively stopped their breeding program, then I think it's a decently plausible to say that the lack of breeding was simply a questionable management decision rather than the fault of Sdudla or the cows. Granted, it is possible he has just lost interest, but we can't say that for sure until he's moved elsewhere and given an oppertunity with different, fertile cows.
There's really no reason to ship out any of the cows in favor of retaining Sdudla, who arguably needs to breed elswhere due to his value.
That would absolutely be a bad idea. If that happened, Tampa would be left with barely any breedable cow at all. They would have to bring in a bull to breed them and produce a reasonable number of calves before they even consider doing that
There was a TV episode that was filmed five or so years ago that went into Tampa reintroducing Sduldha to breed both cows for the first time. And he absolutely was at least interested and did breed one of the cows - there was footage of it!
I can't remember which cow it was though.
Good to have confirmation - I certainly got that impression from watching the TV episode.
Yeah, I mean realistically, even if they just bred from Mavi and Mpumi they’d need to split. I mean you’re talking 8 elephants being held in a 6 stall barn. They honestly should have been expanded the elephant barn and habitat before working on their Florida expansion. They are one of only two “zoos” in Florida that breed elephants and already bring it quite a crowd. They could easily double it and maybe that’d help with their lingering problem of dwindling diversity within their collection.
I'm glad to hear that they'll finally plan to move Sdudla out and trade him for another bull in the near future as zoochatters seemed to rehashed a lot. The most ideal candidates there are probably any of Mabu's 6 sons in bachelor herds at Bham Caldwell and San Diego as they grew up in ideal herd dynamics and should know the ropes regarding breeding. They're also all not much older the Mavi and Mpumi making it even more flawless imo. Regarding capacity, Tampa is certainly getting up there, and could certainly use a small barn and outdoor yard expansion (like into the adjoining giraffe yard so the giraffes can get more room), but I believe the reason their barn is a lot smaller than some others is because of Tampa's much warmer and droughtier climate than say Omaha or Sedgwick giving them more 24/7 access to their outdoor yards on most days. I think it's the trend for most sunbelt zoos give their elephants smaller barns so they have more choice on which area to use on a daily basis.
There was a TV episode that was filmed five or so years ago that went into Tampa reintroducing Sduldha to breed both cows for the first time. And he absolutely was at least interested and did breed one of the cows - there was footage of it!
@E Maximus sorry to reply to this late, but where did you get information about Sdudla moving to another zoo and another bull moving to Tampa in the near future.