I know that, but my question still remains why didn’t Mkhaya older siblings catch EEHV when they were younger but she did.
North American Asian and African Elephant Populations: Discussion and Speculation
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I know that, but my question still remains why didn’t Mkhaya older siblings catch EEHV when they were younger but she did.
The answer is that her siblings also got EEHV but it was either not detected at that time or just not reported to the public. ALL elephants above age 10 (or so) are infected with one or serveral strains of EEHV and will from time to time shed the virus. Thats normal. Its only noteworthy/ concerning of a young elephants gets clinically sick which is rather rare in african elephants. I am not sure why SD made Mkhayas infection public, and I dont know if she really was severely sick.
Since they announced it a few days after she was detected to have EEHV and described to be recovering, my assumption was they were confident she was over the worst and would make a full recovery.
Considering two decades ago, clinical cases of EEHV in a young elephant were all but a death sentence, perhaps they wanted to add to the number of positive stories about an elephant's recovery as well as highlighting the importance of early detection.
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EEHV has never been a ‚death sentence‘ since virtually all elephants-wild and captive alike - are infected. Clinical EEHV-HD disease however, has been and pretty much still IS a death sentence… not that much has improved, there habe always been a few survivors even of clinical EEHV-HD disease.
Mkhaya was bad. As in like we didn’t think she was gonna make it bad. She’s been sick for nearly 3 weeks now.
Polar bear fan
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It’s interesting then that they’d specify that she’s the smallest female though. They can’t guarantee that the calf will be female. On the other hand if Emily, Gigi, and a new calf arrived then there would certainly be 2 smaller cows in the herd. Your conclusion is likely though.
Could it possibly be because of weight gain as to why she’s no longer the smaller female?
Polar bear fan
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It could be, however the next smallest females are both about 1,000 lbs. heavier. Pregnancy makes sense but judging by Houston’s success in predicting gender before birth I’d say it’s not necessarily the most accurate.
Mmm to me it just seems like they think she’d outgrow the adult females one day? It just seems to like their way of stating she is the smallest but is still growing. Dosen’t seem to be a pregnancy hint, but who knows.
She is nine years old, so definitely around the right time to get pregnant for the first time.
Fort Worth is no longer getting the Canadian girls, nor any other animals in the foreseeable future. Honestly they don’t need to, they can easily grow the herd naturally (and quickly if so desired) with Romeo, Bluebonnet, and Blue Belle.
I wouldn’t put much more weight in it other than them insinuating the Belle is growing quickly and will soon be larger than the next smallest cow.
I wouldn’t put much more weight in it other than them insinuating the Belle is growing quickly and will soon be larger than the next smallest cow.
I agree - especially with Bluebonnet being a natural breeder now, things are looking pretty good for Fort Worth's breeding program even without any new cows. While I'm nearly certain that Belle is pregnant, I don't think the zoo would leak anything of the sort considering how quiet they have been re. pregnancies in the past.
Hardly, I think you’re the only person on this website that was overtly concerned. Even from the material released by the WAP, I never got the impression she was in particularly dire straights. I don’t believe she was separated from the herd at any point, nor are anything at any point considered “critical”. And of course it would take some weeks for her to fully overcome it, that has nothing to do with the herpes virus specifically, and is simply the way most viruses are fought off by the body. Case in point with humans, with the Covid virus, someone might only be symptomatic for three or four days, but we can potentially test for antibodies showing we are fighting the virus for weeks after becoming asymptomatic for it. Yes of course there are antiviral drugs that do help to some degree (how much they actually help though is debateable), the majority of treatment issued to herpes elephants is merely supportive care, additional hydration, plasma transfusions to bolster the immune system, etc.
A herpes infection can have a very wide range of how badly it affects an animal, from merely having elevated antibody levels present in blood samples but no other noticeable symptoms (such as what happened with Frankie at Columbus at the same time Beco succumbed to the virus), all the way up to sudden and aggressive haemorrhaging, lethargy, inappetence, etc that is usually untreatable and almost always results in death, even with aggressive treatment. Most of the cases where treatment is successful seem to fall to the lower end of the spectrum up to the middle, you rarely hear of calves suffering very sudden and aggressive herpes outbreaks surviving.
Some interesting news with elephants in Dallas. according to @Kudu21 Tendaji the bull has been showing quite a bit of interest in female Zola. In fact, a couple of times he tried mounting on Zola! I wonder now hearing this news, I don’t think Zola is one of the 6 confirmed African elephants pregnant if Tendaji is currently trying to mate with her but regardless again we don’t know for sure. I do find it a positive sign anyway that Tendaji seems to be mating or trying to at least with the cows.
At this rate Mlilo and Zola should be already pregnant. They are around 17 years old and Zola never had a calf before.
That’s good to hear. Tendaji hasn’t been proven yet, so it’s nice to know he’s at least demonstrated the right mating behaviour.
It’ll be good for Zola to get pregnant asap. She’s never been pregnant and is now in her late teens. It’ll be advisable to breed her now (possibly alongside Milo too - who hasn’t given birth for six years now).
Councilman Renews Complaint Over LA Zoo's Treatment of Billy the Elephant - MyNewsLA.com
It looks like the AR groups are at it again now with Billy at LA zoo. It’s strange they focus on one elephant such as Billy and Happy at Bronx zoo (leaving Patti and the three cows behind).
i find it funny that they are calling the LA zoo to stop breeding elephants while all cows are past the breeding age for their first calves.
if they decide to move Billy I wish it would to be a zoo with at least one breedable cow so we can have his genetics in the EEP.
It looks like the AR groups are at it again now with Billy at LA zoo. It’s strange they focus on one elephant such as Billy and Happy at Bronx zoo (leaving Patti and the three cows behind).
i find it funny that they are calling the LA zoo to stop breeding elephants while all cows are past the breeding age for their first calves.
if they decide to move Billy I wish it would to be a zoo with at least one breedable cow so we can have his genetics in the EEP.
Corangurilla
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What’s so bad about LA that they decide to target it for over a decade? I mean, the elephant exhibit is kinda barren, but it’s not awful.
Billy was by himself for so long.
It may be “kinda barren” because LA is in a desert region. But the elephants have 3 acres, pools and different terrains so it’s not bad at all. It’s the enrichment that makes a huge difference. I am pretty sure the LA zoo can support a single matriarch line if they decide to go on that route.
Corangurilla
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But now he isn’t, so why haven’t they stopped?