North American Asian Elephant Reproduction

ZCChip said:
Thanks. I have seen only pictures of George and Johnson so I couldn't tell them apart.
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I have only seen photos of George and Johnson when they were young while I have seen pictures of George as an adult does any one have any photos of Johnson as an adult.
 
Javier Iniguez said:
I have only seen photos of George and Johnson when they were young while I have seen pictures of George as an adult does any one have any photos of Johnson as an adult.
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Johnson -> Petra Prager – elefanten-fotolexikon.eu


You will see see Johnson and George look quite the same in tusks and conformation. The only difference for me is that George can be handled free contact and goes with the girls to the lake. At least one YouTube video will show the walk.
 
nczoofan said:
Recently heard from someone fairly knowledgeable about elephants that Fort Worth has a pregnant female. They didn’t know which one. Hoping they were right and if so that the pregnancy is successful though.
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If I had to make an educated guess, I would say Bluebonnet is most likely their pregnant cow as Rasha is likely post-reproductive given her age and irregular cycles, and Belle is still a tad young to be having her first calf. Also, back in late February, the Fort Worth Zoo posted photos of before and after the snow melted to social media. In the second photo, there's Angel on the left and Bluebonnet, who appears to be quite rotund, on the right. I wouldn't put it past Fort Worth to have AI’d Bluebonnet so she would be expecting some time after the grand opening of 'Elephant Springs.'

Javier Iniguez said:
Our suspicions were correct, African Lion Safari does indeed have two brand new calves. They look to be at least a few days old as they are far too small to Lily's youngest daughter, Imke. Emily has a calf, hopefully another daughter, along with another calf who's mother I couldn't figure out; it was either Natasha or her daughter Opal.
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Based on the physical characteristics of the elephants in the video, I would say the other mother is Natasha. Opal has a slightly rounded belly and bumps on both of her upper forelegs while Natasha has a very pronounced belly and depigmentation on the edge of her ears. The adult cow on the right has characteristics that match the description of Natasha exactly. As for the other elephants, the adult cow on the left is Emily, the adult bull with capped tusks on the right is George, and the adolescent calf on the right is Onyx. As for the two adolescent calves on the left, I'm not a hundred percent sure who they are as I can't get a good look at them, but I would surmise the larger of the two, the one standing next to Emily, is either Nellie or Hannah.

Animals R AMAZING! said:
I believe George is castrated so he isn’t an option for breeding. Hopefully they AI’d Emily, it would be unfortunate if her calf is inbred.
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Mai Thai said:
George is not castrated so he is fully capable of breeding but he seems to be a behavioral non breeder.
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George is neither surgically castrated or a behavioral non-breeder. He's chemically castrated and has been for quite a few years. This is how the elephant handlers have been able to continue working with George in free contact. Chemical castration is the use of anaphrodisiac drugs to lower testosterone and reduce libido. Chemical castration is not a form of sterilization so George could breed if treatment was discontinued but I doubt African Lion Safari would ever consider doing it since Johnson is the perfect breeding bull.

Mai Thai said:
Emily is Johnson’s half-sister. As Johnson is the current breeding bull at African Lion Safari, if Emily were to have a calf it would be with him which would be inbreeding. The only other option would be George who has not sired a calf yet and is part of the Motek x Warda line as well as the Calvin bloodline. The best option for Emily is to bring in another bull for her to mate with.
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Javier Iniguez said:
If they did AI her the most likely candidate for the father of her new calf would either be George or his half-brother through his mother’s side Bodhi who actually sired a calf a few months ago with a female (Tupelo) at the Houston Zoo and their is a small possibility that Sneezy or Groucho sired her calf.
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George is chemically castrated so he's out of the equation, and if Emily did conceive through AI, it's unlikely Bodhi, Groucho, or Sneezy sired her calf because the sample had to be either fresh or chilled. I doubt the sample would still be viable after making the international flight from Denver or Tulsa to Cambridge. If Emily did conceive through AI, the probable donors of her calf are either Doc (Syracuse), Hank (Columbus), Sabu (Cincinnati), or Spike (NZP). All four institutions are within driving distance of African Lion Safari so when the time came for the procedure, the sample could be there in less than 12 hours, thus guaranteeing the sample would still be viable.

Javier Iniguez said:
Their are rumors that Gigi, Emily's daughter, was actually sired by George.
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Gigi's paternity has been questioned numerous times in the last few years. Since the announcement of her birth, African Lion Safari has always stated that George is the father of Gigi, and their website states the same. However, George has been chemically castrated for some time now, including prior to Gigi's conception. Ultimately, all signs point towards Johnson being the father of Gigi but until African Lion Safari confirms who actually sired Gigi, we have to trust their word that George is her father.
 
Mai Thai said:
I was wrong about George being not being castrated. He is indeed chemically castrated. Before he was castrated, semen was collected from him for AI usage. So far it has not been used but it is suspected that Gigi is his daughter.
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As far as I known no known breeding using frozen Asian elephant semen has been successful, chilled and fresh yes but frozen?
 
It would appear that Opals calf has already been born. Judging by the breeding patterners of African Lion safaris breeding cows I would say the Lily would have her next calf in late 2022, early 2023 or in 2025, Opal, and Natasha would give birth in middle to late 2023, and Emily would have her next calf in 2026. The Birthing intervals for Lily would every two to four years, Opal and Nat every three years, and Emily every 5 years. And Nellie could become pregnant this year at the age of 8 the reason why I made this assumption is because her older half sister Opal was cycling at the age of 8 and gave birth at the age of 10 so it is possible for Nellie to give birth in 2023
 
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Javier Iniguez said:
It would appear that Opals calf has already been born. Judging by the breeding patterners of African Lion safaris breeding cows I would say the Lily would have her next calf in late 2022 or early 2023 or in 2025, Opal, and Natasha would give birth in middle to late 2023, and Emily would have her next calf in 2026 The Birthing intervals for Lily would every two to four years, Opal and Nat every three years, and Emily every 5 years. And Nellie could become pregnant this year at the age of 8 the reason why I made this assumption is because her older half sister Opal was cycling at the age of 8 and gave birth at the age of 10 so it is possible for Nellie to give birth in 2023
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I would guess that they will be announcing the births very soon then!! As for the birthing intervals, all healthy and mature female elephants are capable of producing a calf every three years though in some cases it may vary. Many cows (in the US atleast) have very long birthing intervals of around 4-7 years which is unhealthy for the cows in the long run. On the other hand, ALS managed to breed Lily within months of her giving birth to Luna and all of their cows have rather short breeding intervals, which is quite impressive. So I would expect the next round of ALS calves from all these females to born around late 2023-2024, however there is a good chance a new bull will be aquired by then which would then allow Johnson's maturing daughters to have calves as well.
 
Columbus Zoo Elephant Program Update
The zoo currently has no plans to breed Sunny and Rudy because they want to wait until they are older. It sounds like the zoo will bring in a new bull when they are ready to breed rather than using Hank or Beco.
 
@Mai Thai: Where does this info come from?

Rudy and Sundara are almost too old now, they should already have 2 calves by now or at least be pregnant with number 2. If they dont get pregnant very soon its over. I cant believe this comes from the experts of the zoo. But if it indeed does, thats the answer why both populations of elephants in the US are dying out…
 
Mai Thai said:
Columbus Zoo Elephant Program Update
The zoo currently has no plans to breed Sunny and Rudy because they want to wait until they are older. It sounds like the zoo will bring in a new bull when they are ready to breed rather than using Hank or Beco.
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That’s the most stupid thing I’ve heard. Sorry if that’s a bit harsh, but like @csartie said Rudy is 19 almost 20. Even Sundara should've had a calf by now. Also, did a keeper tell you this?
 
I am very saddened by this information as well and I completely agree with all of you.

This information came to me from a volunteer who also helps take care of the elephants and is very close with their keepers. Throughout the hour that I was watching the elephants for, he told this information to multiple groups of people including me.
 
Then they went through false breast development, I was hoping we could get calves from the sister's. Regarding Rudy that is the most stupid thing I have ever heard she is 5 to 4 years away from the breeding cut off age of 24 she should have had her third calf by now, and Sunny should have had her second calf. This just shows how much the SSP fails breeding cows. Waiting to the last minute to breed cows is a stupid idea that could result in a Stillborn, or both calf and mother dying in the birthing process. Hopefully they will plan to breed the sister's soon.
 
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Maybe one of them already is pregnant and they are saying this to make it a “surprise.” I doubt it though, we can only hope they decide to breed the girls soon.
 
I have seen so many videos regarding Columbus's elephants and I swear I have seen mammary gland development in both sisters, and they do seem a bit wider in my opinion. In a video about Frankie meeting Rudy and Sunny the Lead keeper stated that both Sunny and Rudy were going to be mom's not future mother's so I think he teased that they both were pregnant. But I could just be looking far to deep into it
 
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