ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Whipsnades new baby Elephant

[Yassa]

The AI procedure in captive elephants was developed to combat the high prevalance of reproductive pathology within captive females and it is being used much more widely than you might imagine, whether publicised or not.

Maybe you can explain me why, in your opinion, AI can combat reproductive pathology and natural breeding with the fertile bull who is standing in the next paddock can`t?

Thankfully the elephants of the most sucessful european breeding herds in Emmen, Howletts and Ramat Gan havn`t heard about the "superiority" of AI and breed highly sucessful through 100% natural breeding (yes, I am 100% sure about this!).

 

[vetandy]

Maybe you can explain me why, in your opinion, AI can combat reproductive pathology and natural breeding with the fertile bull who is standing in the next paddock can`t?.

This is far from 'my opinion' it is actually an area that has undergone much work over the last few years. It is widely accepted that elephants in captivity undergo something called premature senescence - essentially because we don't get them in calf they cycle more rapidly than their wild relatives and 'burn out' at a young age, similar to early menopause in humans though of a different aetiology.

This continual cycling and hormonal influence is also thought to increase the development of pathologies within the female reproductive tract, in particularly benign muscular tumours which are fairly common. These mean that natural service is less effective.

AI on the other hand can bypass these areas of pathology and deposit the semen right at the point it is required therefore increasing conception rates.

You are right that this is not required in wild elephants - they do not cycle so rapidly and their incidence of abnormalities in the repro tract is minimal. Equally very successful captive groups will have less pathology so will find natural breeding more effective.

I hope this helps.

 

[Pertinax]

Is it fair to assume this situation has arisen at Whipsnade? The (originally)six females were already maturing before the young bull Emmett arrived, and further time(several years) elapsed while he was growing and was still presumably not big enough to do any natural mating. So during all that time they were cycling more rapidly, with the possible associated pathological consequences you outline, because they were not being mated?

Do you know how many of the pregnancies there have been attributed to natural mating and how many to AI ?

 

[Yassa]

Pertinax, this is what I meant - if female elephants are put together with a mature bull when they`re young (10-20 years old), they will usually get pregnant by natural mating and deliver without problems, and there is nothing AI can do better then natural mating.

And taking Whipsnade as example, I`d say even AI can`t do much if the females have already passed the ideal breeding age - out of 6 females, 2 never got pregnant at all (Mya and Dilberta - do I understand you right Vetandy that AI might have tried on both?), 2 fell pregnant but had very serious birth complications that resulted in the death of both calves and one female, and only 2 delivered healthy calves (and 50% of those died from herpes). That is not exactly a good result, espcially if you compare this with the natural breeding results in Emmen, where 6 of 6 young females bred and until today raised a grand total of 17 surviving calves until today (+ 2 born to Emmen females in Cologne).

Regarding the problems Whipsnade is facing now, I am not sure that stopping all breeding attemps is necessary now. In my opinion, they should change to protected contact and keep the calves as stress-free as possible..
If you look at other zoos that lost calves to herpes, they usually have continued breeding with a good survival rate (for example Rotterdam lost 2 calves to herpes in 1998 and 2002, but 9 other calves born to females from the Rotterdam herd in Rotterdam and Dublin from 1997 - 2009 are surviving until today).

The former Port Lympne elephants have not been retired from breeding neither, Bindu is the breeding bull in Cologne, and the only 2 females in breeding age are now at Antwerp where Khaing Phyo Phyo is due to give birth again any moment.
By the way, I am not sure that the 2 stillborn calves in Port Lympne in 2005 both died due to herpes, I have heard that the calf of Tin Tin Too died because the mother had many benign tumors in the uterus. She was considered to be infertile due to this condition and everyone was surprised when she showed signs of labor, but she could not expell the calf due to the large tumors and both died. This is at least what a friend of mine had been told by a keeper in P.L.

 

[vetandy]

This situation is far from unique to Whipsnade and has been an issue at a number of collections as it was previously never recognised the importance of getting female elephants pregnant. However you are probably right is assuming that the fact Whipsnade didn't have a bull for a while then had a young one that the situation will be worse there because of the time delay.

I believe one of the reasons AI was first used at whipsnade is because the bull was too small to mate the larger females manually but was fertile for AI. Incidentally his semen has also been sent to other collections for use there.

I think it is also true to say that it is probably too late for some of the elephants at Whipsnade - attempts have been made to breed Mya and hormone tests indicate she is still cycling but as far as I am aware fertilisation attempts have been unsuccessful.

On a more general note the premature ageing issue in elephants is an international problem - more than 50% of captive elephants are now likely too old to breed and the captive population is nowhere near self sustaining at current breeding levels, I believe the statistics indicate if we do not improve captive elephant reproduction techniques that in 50 years time we will have few captive born elephants left.

Andy

 

[Pertinax]

This situation is far from unique to Whipsnade and has been an issue at a number of collections as it was previously never recognised the importance of getting female elephants pregnant. However you are probably right is assuming that the fact Whipsnade didn't have a bull for a while then had a young one that the situation will be worse there because of the time delay.

I believe one of the reasons AI was first used at whipsnade is because the bull was too small to mate the larger females manually but was fertile for AI. Incidentally his semen has also been sent to other collections for use there.

yes, I wasn't suggesting it was unique to Whipsnade, but rather that the history of their group is an example of how the problems arise. I can remember Emmett,the bull, being very little when he first arrived and was still smaller than the cows even until just a few years ago.

Presumably there are implications here for groups without a male such as Twycross. I know one female there is currently pregnant from AI from Whipsnade's male, but there are also the two older females Tonzi & Mimbu who have only bred once each. I did hear one of them was already regarded as non-reproductive. I wonder if this might be why.

 

[vetandy]

Yes I think this is most problematic in collections without a Bull and it doesn't surprise me that 2 of the Twycross females are considered beyond breeding as in some elephants that do not get pregnant this premature senescense can occur at quite a young age.

A further complicating factor is that there is also enormous variation in the fertility of the bulls at different collections which again will make AI an important tool in trying to get elephants in calf.

Andy

 

[Pertinax]

- if female elephants are put together with a mature bull when they`re young (10-20 years old), they will usually get pregnant by natural mating and deliver without problems, and there is nothing AI can do better then natural mating.

Yes, totally agree. With a mature bull and younger or breeding females, there are fewer problems. But in the past, many zoos acquired females which matured before an decision was made to breed from them. The zoo decides to breed so brings in younger male, either because only a young bull is available or they want to be able to handle it easily and so the age disparity between male and females arises- as at Whipsnade.

Re. port Lympne; I only knew that the 2 year old 'Sittang' died from the virus and haven't heard the still births were due to this. I was actually at Port Lympne on a day when one cow was in labour but found out later it was yet another stillbirth.

I also agree Whipsnade shouldn't stop breeding while there is still hope they can find a way around this.

 

[Pertinax]

Yes I think this is most problematic in collections without a Bull and it doesn't surprise me that 2 of the Twycross females are considered beyond breeding as in some elephants that do not get pregnant this premature senescense can occur at quite a young age.

Do you mean that both Tonzi & Mimbu at Twycross are now considered non-reproductive? I didn't know it was both of them.

 

[vetandy]

Do you mean that both Tonzi & Mimbu at Twycross are now considered non-reproductive? I didn't know it was both of them.

My mistake - misread your post - I don't know anything of the specifics at Twycross is not one of the collections I've had involvement with, so could just be one of them, but if they are having issues with the breeding programme their it is possible both may be having issues.

Andy

 

[Pertinax]

My mistake - misread your post - I don't know anything of the specifics at Twycross is not one of the collections I've had involvement with, so could just be one of them, but if they are having issues with the breeding programme their it is possible both may be having issues.

Andy

AFAIK at present it is only one, but as you say, it could possibly become both if they remain unbred.....

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Yes I think this is most problematic in collections without a Bull and it doesn't surprise me that 2 of the Twycross females are considered beyond breeding as in some elephants that do not get pregnant this premature senescense can occur at quite a young age.

A further complicating factor is that there is also enormous variation in the fertility of the bulls at different collections which again will make AI an important tool in trying to get elephants in calf.

Andy

Re: early reproductive senescence in captive cow eles. The main issue is the is access to and the number of reproductive or proven bulls of the right age classes. The issue of too young a bull with older reproductively able cows is AN ISSUE in several zoos (I am afraid). A complicating factor nowadays may be import restrictions on elephants from other continents or the "wild" (captive sources in Burma, India,Thailand) - mainly to do with political sensitivities rather than any logical population management concerns - to make up the right sex and age ration classes.

Re: ageing elephant population
Projection studies have been done within the Asian elephant EEP some 3-4 years ago again. The population is slowly moving towards a self-sustaining one. So, ageing elephant population is less of an issue as it was 13-14 years ago. EEP zoos are required to provide bull facility when wishing to breed and are designated non-breeding when not and then required to provide accomodation for the ageing, elderly and reproductively senescent eles (thus increasing space allocations for breeding).

Re: overall outlook
True not there yet ...! Within the Asian elephant EEP these days ca. 8-10 calves are born annually. For a self-sustaining population, at least 12-15 is the main goal. Suffice, within the EEP we are closing in on the ideal number.

 

[zebedee101]

What is interesting is how it seems to 'strike' certain calves, but not others born at different times in the same group -as at Whipsnade- and I hope I am not tempting fate by saying that...

Tragically it seems that leelee has succumbed to EEHV too, must be devastating to the staff and elephant herd.

 

[Jacobea]

So there's been a third calf lost now ?

 

[Yassa]

Oh my god, I hope this is not true. where does this information come from? Do you have a source at Whipsnade, zebedee?

 

[catinthehat]

unfortunately it is true. There was an article in my local paper today. Its says leelee died over the weekend of EEHV after vets and zookeepers spent 50 hours battling to save her. Can;t imagine how devastating this must be for the elephant keepers, since there seems to be very little they can do about it. Interestingly it says they consulted someone at St Louis Zoo about treatments for her, and after a little research on the internet it seems that earler this year a young calf ther actually managed to survive this awful virus.....so maybe there is hope in the future for elephant calves surviving this

 

[zebedee101]

Just wondering out loud and maybe vetandy can comment on this, but with EEHV taking young calves but not newborns I'm assuming that maybe some maternal immunity is gained from colostrum and protection from EEHV maybe variable due to post maternal feeding and care?

 

[Marilyn]

ZSL Whipsnade Zoo is hoping to attract in its fantastic butterfly garden, open this week.

Built to replicate a typical country cottage garden, the new area is also designed to inspire others to recreate a similar butterfly “honey trap” in their own back garden.

The new site replaces the former butterfly garden at the bird garden, which is closed for future redevelopment. The butterfly border had been created back in the 1980s with the assistance of the local branch of the Butterfly Conservation Board.

The idea for a new location surfaced at the Zoo’s Green Fair last year and, like a very hungry caterpillar, the idea soon grew into a much bigger project.

The new garden features all sorts of attractions for butterflies and caterpillars alike. Plants such as 15 different varieties of buddleia, mint, herbs and cabbages are dotted along the winding pathways and there’s even a compost bin masquerading as an old fashioned beehive as a centerpiece.

 

[Jacobea]

zebedee101-I *think* there have been a few newborns who have died of EEHV, but I think they were just that-new born, and hadn't had the time to drink, although that suggests they were born with it, which is possible, I guess.

 

[zebedee101]

zebedee101-I *think* there have been a few newborns who have died of EEHV, but I think they were just that-new born, and hadn't had the time to drink, although that suggests they were born with it, which is possible, I guess.

I know of a lot of asian elephant neonates are stillborn but not of a trend for dying between birth and a few hours into infancy, where EEHV was the culprit rather than some other attributing pathology. With viruses it is common for the maternal transfer of a virus to the offspring, this often isnt due to placental transfer but to maternal blood exposure during the birthing process (akin to HIV infection from mother to baby in humans). From the data available it seemed like 2-4 years was the prime time for deaths attributed to EEHV, in my mind I was trying to reason why 0-2 was not as critical and maternal antibodies was the most obvious thing I could come up with.

Zeb