North American Asian Elephant Population Change Concepts

Frankie_number_1_fan

Frankie_number_1_fan

Well-Known Member
In order to avoid any muddying of the main speculation thread, I have created this one with the purpose of discussing my and hopefully others' personal views on potential transfers, renovations, etc of Asian Elephants and their facilities in North America.

I have excluded facilities I know little about or facilities that have announced phase outs (that I know of). If anyone has their own thoughts on these facilities, their future with Elephants or their individuals, please feel free to share them! I'm always looking to know more!

I am including multiple different possibilities for transfers, especially when it comes to bulls!

Please note, This is based off the population list as of January 7th, 2024.

CANADA

African Lion Safari - Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
  • Following Johnson's move, import a European bull.

UNITED STATES

Los Angeles Zoo - Los Angeles, California, United States
  • After Tina's passing, import a small group of cows from Europe or Australia to form a breeding herd with Billy

Denver Zoo - Denver, Colorado, United States
  • Potentially move Bodhi to Albuquerque to be a breeding bull for Rozie
  • After Groucho's passing potentially accept Hank from Columbus or Colonel from Fort Worth to fill his mentor roll in the herd.

Smithsonian National Zoo - Washington, District of Columbia, United States
  • No changes

Miami Zoo - Miami, Florida, United States
  • Transport Ongard to Houston after Thai's passing to be a breeding bull.
  • Accept Bachelor males to the facility after minor alterations to the barn and the yards.
  • Bachelor options could be younger bulls within the population or older ones such as Hank at Columbus, Colonal at Fort Worth or Tommy at Endangered Ark.

White Oak Conservation Center - Yulee, Florida, United States
  • After Casey's passing, import a European bull, transport Baylor from Houston or Tucker from Houston for a new breeding bull.

Saint Louis Zoo - St. Louis, Missouri, United States
  • No changes different from announced

Dickerson Park Zoo - Springfield, Missouri, United States
  • Accept Cameron Lee from Endangered Ark once he is of age to be transferred
  • After the passing of geriatric individuals, convert the facility to bachelor holding.

Albuquerque Zoo - Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
  • Transport Albert to bachelor holding.
  • Import a European Bull, Transport Bodhi from Denver, Baylor from Houston or Tucker from Houston as a new breeding bull for Rozie.

Bronx Zoo - Bronx, New York, United States
  • Following their geriatric females' passings, invest in the building of a larger complex for either bachelors or a breeding herd.
  • Convert some of the Asia Monorail exhibits to elephant space and add a walkthrough viewing element with indoor viewing, potentially an offshoot "stop" on the monorail to avoid making walking trails across the river.

Rosamond Gifford Zoo - Syracuse, New York, United States
  • No changes

Cincinnati Zoo - Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
  • Down the line, transfer in Frankie from Columbus to be a part of the bachelor herd.

Columbus Zoo - Powell, Ohio, United States
  • Transfer Hank to bachelor holding of some kind. Perhaps Denver after Groucho's passing.
  • Move Connie to TES if she proves unable to mingle with the breeding herd or with Raja or Johnson.
  • Expand the smaller elephant yard by combing it with the old rhino space
  • Accept both Raja and Johnson and hold them both as breeding males for Rudy, Sunny, Phoebe and potential female calves.
  • Transfer Frankie to Cincinnati once he is of age to seperate fully from his natal group.

Endangered Ark Foundation - Hugo, Oklahoma, United States
  • Transfer Tommy to bachelor holding
  • Move Cameron Lee to Dickerson Park when he is of age for separation from his natal herd.

Oklahoma City Zoo - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
  • No changes

Tulsa Zoo - Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
  • Import cows from Europe or transfer Shanti, Joy and Nelson from Houston.
  • Potentially accept Tucker from Houston to socialize Nelson as he grows and to act as a breeding bull once Sneezy passes.

Oregon Zoo - Portland, Oregon, United States
  • No changes other than announced

Fort Worth Zoo - Fort Worth, Texas, United States
  • Transport Colonel to bachelor holding. Potentially transfer him to Denver after Groucho passes to fill the mentor role he will leave.

Houston Zoo - Houston, Texas, United States
  • Following Thai's passing, undergo a matrilineal split between Tess and Shanti's lines.
  • Transfer Shanti, Joy, Nelson and potentially Tucker to Tulsa where they can form their own breeding herd.
  • Potentially transfer out Baylor to Albuquerque or White Oak as a breeding bull. This could also go for Tucker if he didn't go with Shanti's line.
  • Bring in Ongard from Miami to breed with Tupelo, Tilly and Winnie. Tess would likely be post-reproductive at this point.
 
For fun, I decided to review this list and jot down some more more concrete change ideas based on further thoughts since posting. This time around, I'll be focusing on facilities I think could possibly or would benefit from breeding or bachelor related changes.

Potential Bachelor Facilies

San Antonio Zoo - San Antonio, California, United States
  • By starting from scratch with their future Elephant facility, San Antonio has the oppertunity to build a bachelor specific facility with the ability to hold a large group of males (Ie Denver)
Miami Zoo - Miami, Florida, United States
  • Miami has previous experience holding multiple bulls, and has at least three stalls in their barn that can be seperated if needed.
  • With previous experience in the care for older bulls, converting to a bachelor holding for a small number of older bulls would be the perfect choice going forward.
  • Currently, potential transfer candidates include 1.0 Hank from Columbus and 1.0 Colonal Tusk from Fort Worth. My personal choice would be Hank at the moment, as Columbus is in more need of space. But both bulls could be companions for 0.1 Nellie until she passes as well.
Dickerson Park Zoo - Springfield, Missouri, United States
  • Even though this facility currently is focusing on holding geriatric individuals, the presence of 1.0 Hugo, a young bull from a well represented line, gives a foundation for future bachelor holding.
  • The zoo's previous work with Endangered Ark could provide the facility with 1.0 Cameron Lee in a few years in addition to other young bulls in the region.
Bronx Zoo - Bronx, New York, United States
  • Any additional acquisition of elephants would require a total rehaul of their current facility and a large portion of the current Asia Monorail exhibits.
  • Bronx has the oppertunity to create a state of the art facility designed specifically for bachelors at some point in the future, but I imagine this wouldn't be for several years.
Tulsa Zoo - Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
  • With Tulsa's massive facility, they could easily hold a small herd of bachelor bulls in addition to a breeding herd (IE Houston and Cincinnati).
  • This group of bachelors could be bulls born at the facility or any surplus in the region.

Potential Breeding Facilies

Los Angeles Zoo - Los Angeles, California, United States
  • The zoo has said that 1.0 Billy is not in a breeding situation due to the animals he's lived with being post-reproductive, bringing in a small group of cows to establish a breeding herd would be a large benefit to the facility.
  • Bringing in a group of cows from outside the region that are unrelated to any NA lines would make LA an extremely valuable herd, and would best utilize Billy's wildborn genes.
San Antonio Zoo - San Antonio, California, United States
  • San Antonio building a new facility from scratch would allow them to build a large, state of the art facility focused on a breeding program.
Dickerson Park Zoo - Springfield, Missouri, United States
  • Similar to the possibility of a bachelor herd, 1.0 Hugo could also be in a position to be a breeding bull once geriatric individuals have passed.
  • Dickerson has historically been a successful breeding facility, and they have experience in the breeding of elephants.
  • They would best benefit from some rennovation to their facility should they choose to hold a breeding herd.
Albuquerque Zoo - Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
  • ABQ has been in an interesting situation for years now where 1.0 Albert has been the primary bull, when he hasn't naturally produced a calf in over a decade.
  • A reestablishment of a breeding program could be accomplished with the transfer of new cows and a new bull, in addition to continuing to give 0.1 Rozanna the oppertunity to have calves.
  • Top candidates for this would be 0.1 Shanti, her calves 0.1 Joy and 1.0 Nelson, in addition to bull 1.0 Tucker from Houston once they undergo an inevitable herd split due to space.
  • Shanti has had experience living with an unrelated female and her offspring for years, as well as her being a non-dominant cow for her entire life, so an integration to ABQ's herd may be easier than with another animal.
  • If Rozanna proves unable to have more calves, Joy being the only producing animal would keep space issues under control until older individuals pass.
Bronx Zoo - Bronx, New York, United States
  • Much like San Antonio, any future elephant holding in the Bronx would require a completely new facility
  • While they could easily hold bachelors, Bronx could also create a state of the art breeding facility.
  • Bronx has experience with many conservation breeding efforts, and while it may take many years, they could contribute with the Elephant SSP sometime in the future.
Tulsa Zoo - Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
  • Tulsa is confirmed to be focusing on breeding
  • An ideal move for Tulsa's immense space would be to import a group of out-of-region elephants (including a bull) to maximize breeding out of the gate.
  • A set of fresh genes at a fresh facility would start Tulsa off as a genetically valuable NA facility.
 
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