Not matter your position on the issue of elephants in captivity, a lot is happening in the US in terms of elephants and zoos. A few years back, zoo managers realized that within 10-15 years most of their elephants would be too old to breed. Without breeding there is no certain future for elephants in zoos. Thus came about the rebirth of the elephant SSP. Now the SSP is reorganizing its collection plan and regrouping all breeding age individuals and their relatives. Elephant exhibit construction as hit an all time high and elephant calves are beginning to become more common. For anyone tracking any population of taxa in zoos, this is a very exciting time for the elephant population in america. However, due to controversy and debate of elephants in captivity and lenghts some groups will go to fight their position. Most activities are kept secret to the point where animal rights groups post more information about zoo elephants than zoos themselves. I do not want to sacrifice the hard work of the elephant ssp and will not discuss undisclosed information. However I would like to use this thread to paint a picture of the status of the elephant ssp.
Elephants have been an extremely hot topic here at ZooBeat, and I've been one of the main culprits in attempting to push awareness of elephants in captivity. Many of them suffer terrible foot ailments in antequated enclosures...BUT the good news is that approximately 40 of the 80 zoos in North America have responded to criticism by either renovating current enclosures are building brand new ones.
An interesting thing about the elephant SSP is that the Calgary Zoo is actually really important to its success. In the past 17 years 3 elephants have been born there, although one died a few years ago shortly after birth in part because of maternal rejection. They are still mixing Spike, their resident bull, with some of the females less than a year after their latest birth. At the same time Calgary is hardly the ideal climate to keep elephants in. Although with all their Project Discovery money the Calgary Zoo could have built an absolutely massive several acre indoor facility with plenty of natural light and some retracting doors to let fresh air in ! However, I doubt this would have increased attendance as much as doing a smaller renovation (like they have already done) and bringing in new animals.
Here is the first of many posts I plan to make regarding the demographics and news of the N American Elephant Population. The Elephant SSP/TAG has its own website that has many documents such as studbooks, regional collection plans, AZA elephant standards, and more. AZA Elephant TAG/SSP Homepage And in addition, a constorium of zoos are pulling together resources to build the National Elephant Center on 300 acres in Southeast Florida. Initially the elephants' space will be comprised of 70 acres in total and will hold two herds of elephant (one for each species). They hope to not only accomplish breeding but husbandry research regarding exhibit and enrichment design. This will probably be the most progressive facility in North American for elephants. It is planned to open in 2009. The National Elephant Center
@Okapikeeper How are North American Zoos going to handle the changes in demographics and difficulties of housing males that will present themselves when most individuals held in captivity are not born in the wild and represent a more typical mammalian gender ratio? BTW The National Elephant Center looks very interesting to me.
@okapikpr: thanks for the AZA Elephant link, as it's quite informative. I had guessed that 80 zoos in North America kept elephants, but I see that 88 is the exact total. One thing that surprised me was the fact that the african and asian species were almost 50/50, as I would have concluded that the asians were more common in captivity. The National Elephant Center looks fantastic, and reminds me of the private Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary and PAWS in California. Lots of space = happy, healthy elephants.
Good question. Some zoos have already stepped up to act as holding facilities for bachelor herds of elephants such as Birmingham for Africans and Denver for Asians (at least they were planning to) - both in construction phase of their facilities. Other zoos such as Pittsburgh (construction) and National (design) will be using their off site conservation centers to hold surplus males. I'm sure as the population grows and balances gender wise, more zoos will be asked to step up as well. Also, All new elephant construction must now be able to hold at least one bull. Right now there is a HUGE shortage of bull elephants, so it will take some time to fill the available spaces, especially since bull calves will spend 3-5 years (and more) with the herd.
There was mention of the Denver Zoo's elephant program, and their "Asian Tropics" exhibits open next year. With 10 acres of rotational exhibits, including greater one-horned rhinos, malayan tapirs and asian elephants it promises to be as good as their recent "Predator Ridge". If they were to have a bachelor elephant herd then that would significantly contribute to the overall North American program. But keeper handling would be extremely tricky with an all male group.
African Elephants in North America The first African Elephant birth in N American occured at the Knoxville Zoo in 1978. This animal, Lil' Diamond, is now located at the North Carolina Zoo. On into the 1980s other sustained breedings occured at Gladys Porter Zoo, Brownsville TX; Toronto Zoo, SDWAP, and 2 Lion Country Safari parks (Florida & California). However all breeding came to a standstill, mainly due to the lack of places interested in the offspring. Throughout the late 1970s & 1980s, due to imports of calves left over from cullings in African parks, American zoos were full of young African elephants with little room to spare. In the late 1990s, three US zoos seperately ignited their own efforts to breed this difficult species. Oakland's efforts dried up after three calves and their bull all died, but Pittsburgh's prospered with two calves born in 1999 & 2000. Indianapolis Zoo tried the nearly impossible - Artificial Insemination. In 2000, Indianapolis succeeded with two healthy calves. Now AI procedures for African Elephants are very common resulting in about half of the surviving calves. Now there has been sustained breeding in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis (AI), Riddle's, Disney, and SDWAP. Pittsburgh's bull, Jackson, has been the most successful (naturally & AI) with over 25% representation among bulls - hopefully this will not result in over-representation. Riddle's is in the process of breaking up its herd, prior to the sale of the property. 1.2 went to North Carolina and 1.1 (female is pregnant) went to Baltimore. Maybe Riddle's success will spill over into these institutions and add more zoos to the list of sustained breedings. Riddle's still has 4.2 African Elephants and 1.2 Asians....one wonders where they may go. SDWAP and Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, FL also imported 3.8 elephants from Swaziland in 2003. SDWAP has resulted in 2.2 survivng calves. One of Lowry's bulls was sent to Montgomery Zoo, Alabama in Jan 2006. His newly sired calf was born just under 22 months after his release from quarantine - he obviously didnt waste much time. So there is much hope for these animals. From the 19 surviving calves born since 1999 have produced a genepool with a base of at least 26 founders (some sires are unknown and were not counted). 6 captive born animals still survive from the earlier 1980s breedings. These six animals are from 10 founders, and two of these animals have contributed their part to the current breeding population. So far, the African Elephant population has gotten a good start. With new construction, new herds, and new calves, these next 5 years will be very exciting.
Current African Elephant Breeder Herds in North America FACILITY ADULTS CALVES Disney's Animal Kingdom 2.6 1.2 Lowry Park Zoo 1.3 1.0 Jacksonville Zoo 1.3 ---- North Carolina Zoo 2.4 0.1 (born at Riddle's) Baltimore Zoo 1.3 due 2008 Pittsburgh Zoo 1.3 (+0.3 from Philly) 1.1 (+ 2 due 2008) Indianapolis Zoo 1.4 2.1 (all via AI) Knoxville Zoo 1.2 ------ Nashville Zoo 0.3 (pursuing AI) ------ Montgomery Zoo 1.3 0.1 Riddle's Elephant Sanctuary 3.1 1.1 Kansas City Zoo 0.7 (looking for male) ------ Caldwell Zoo (Tyler, TX) 1.3 ------ Hogle Zoo (Salt Lake City, UT) 0.3 (pursuing AI) due 2009 SDWAP 1.6 2.2 Oakland Zoo 1.3 ------ Hemmingford, Quebec 1.2 ------ A few other herds do exist, but little is known and they are currently non-breeding. Known New Construction or Design to Hold African Herds National Elephant Center Pittsburgh's Conservation Center Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Toledo Zoo Brookfield Zoo Sedgwick County Zoo Dallas Zoo (maybe) Reid Park Zoo (Tucson, AZ) Toronto Zoo ??
@Okapikeeper Does the AZA Elephant TAG mention anything about creating different environments for the two different species of elephants? Do Asian and African elephants have the same cultural requirements or is one species more suspect able to foot problems from hard substrates, requires more shade, is better suited to cold climates, spends a greater proportion of its day in water etc. A bachelor herd of elephants would be an interesting display, that is if they don't tear down half the zoo, of course !
The Elephant TAG would rather have the species seperate for health reasons due to the Elephant Herpesviruses, not necessarily for any of the reasons you mentioned. I have only posted history and current status of the African population, Ill put something up about the Asians later....there's a lot more of them and they have a longer history.
I believe Scott and Heidi want to retire. So they were originally going to sell the farm to the SSP to become the National Elephant Center. But word leaked and the sale got to much press for the Riddle's so they backed out of the deal. Now it seems that they are selling off their animals instead of the whole package. Which for breeding purposes this might be better, but the land is a much better geographical location to serve the TAG as a national elephant center than south florida.
Male African Elephant born at Baltimore Zoo on Wednesday to Lil' Felix who arrived last fall at the Baltimore Zoo from Riddle's.
Hi, Do you have any opinion at what age females become too old to breed for the first time? European EEP said that 25 year old females usually have big difficulties to breed for the first time. I think border is even lower - most really succesful cows had first calf under 15, closer to 10. Second question - what is minimum group size? Forest elephants in Congo and semidesert ones in Namibia live solitary or in small groups. This is obviously dictate by local food reserves. They seem not to differ much behaviorally (otherwise) from other elephants. And some European zoos, esp. in East Europe, succesfully bred 1.1. or 1.2 groups, if containing compatible females and mature bulls. I think compatibility of females can be more important than size of herd.
I believe that 30 is too old for an elephant cow to breed for the first time. There has never been a breeding of a first time mother at age 30+ in North America that ended successfully. I have heard of elephants in their late 20s giving birth for the first time, successfully. Ideally I would prefer that the age limit be 25/27. But if the cow is important enough, it wouldnt hurt to try if she is older. I also agree that younger cows in their teens tend to be more successful and successful well past 30 years. The AZA Elephant SSP reccommends a minimum herd of 0.3. I agree for herd mechanices that compatibility of females is extremely important (most general public do not seem to understand this). This is why most zoos that are building new elephant exhibits made for breeding have more than one pen. Not just to exhibit males, but possibly small herds if females dont get along, especially when breeding reccommendations require all of the zoo's females to breed with their male. It is still important, mentally, for all elephants to socialize with other elephants. No elephant should live by themselves, unless by choice they prefer solitary life. And if you have two elephants, then why not have three. From what you seem to be asking, I would answer that individual compatibility is important but to an organization that manages breeding populations, holding space and genetics is more important - its the zoos' job to manage what makes up their herd and its mechanics. Zoo design keeps making more strides that allows felixibility for this. The AZA's reccommendation that I mentioned is not only for the elephants' social nature, but mainly to increase holding space within US zoos and encourage growth in elephant numbers.
