AI of A Elephant » Taronga Zoo

03-06-2008

Torie, the whole point of bring semen from singapore is to diversify, we do not just the 2 males at syd and melb.

Hilderbrant, has had 20 succesful births from A.I. Melbourne was not first, but i do beelive that both melb and taronga's vets are of great assistance, and will be learning some techniques as well.

03-06-2008

Breeding inside Zoos around most of the world is controlled. Zoos are basically told which animals need to breed or even aloud to breed this controls the Genetics stock of the species. This is the reason the Singapore Elephant, they were basically told which Elephant needed to bred. Its a very controlled environment these days, but thats doesn't stop mother nature from occurring like at Taronga.

03-06-2008

The singapore male is not part of our region, therefore did not fall under our mangeent program, the zoo asked for straws of semen and they got them.

There isa lot mroe to why the singapore bull was choosen.

Such as 1. he's unrelated, new genetic stock.

2. But also he was close enough to be able to donate semen. elephant seamen can not be stored, or frozen, therefore must be used fresh. Hence why 2 males seamen was used in an attempt to increase possiblity of conception, due to the seamen needing to tarvel long distances.

03-06-2008

Yes i'm probably just adding on, but there are only 3 bulls in Australia, and Chawang is a magnificent bull, hope a bull calf is born. If successful. Chawang has sired 3 male calves,

03-06-2008

Elephant semen can be frozen much like cattle or or own, preserving sperm generally requires that a semen specimen be mixed with a solvent fortified with nutrients and chemicals that maximize the specimen's chance of survival. Samples are usually kept in a special tube that is then submerged in a tank of liquid nitrogen to be frozen at minus 196 C. Samples are thawed when needed. Also it can be stored

And also like i said the breeding programs are controlled. And yes like i said the genetics are monitored. I tell you off the top of my head who monitors these records, it might even be the zoos?? But all I know is Breeding is controlled to the point where your told which animal needs to be bred with which.

You can also read this which if you search the internet is easy enough to find.
These are the offical docs from the BAA about the Importation. Its quite a interesting read.

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The link is the little blue line above, know idea why its this size??

03-06-2008

If i remember, most attempts with A.I are done with elephant sprem that has been frozen,

03-06-2008

Andy, elephant semen can be frozen, but the techniques for thawing it out, and having it still be viable are still a long way from perfect. It is generally accepted that only fresh (not frozen) elephant semen is used for AI.

Zoos are not "told" which animals to breed with. All zoos participating in a program in Australasia are involved in review of the draft recommendations, and they sign off on them, once all participating zoos agree with the recommendations. And of course, this only applies to animals that are managed regionally - for non managed species, the zoos decide which animals they want to breed and when they want to breed them.

04-06-2008

hmmm, hope no one writes, to us via laptop, while driving a car! (if you know what i mean)

04-06-2008

Go gyln, drunk is good! But ya post is deleted.

Thanks Zoopro. I wasn't exactly sure about the whole frozen thing, i was told it was best to use fresh, as the frozen preservation methods where not perfect.

04-06-2008

[quote=Zoo_Boy;55352]Go gyln, drunk is good!

Why is it good?

04-06-2008

i like being drunk. Care free, and fantastic. Nothing in relation to postings, didnt read wht glyn wrote.

04-06-2008

Never been drunk, probably won't for another 5 years at least,

04-06-2008

getting expensive. probably cost you $50 for a schooner by the time you get to drinking age

04-06-2008

Back on topic (well slightly..)...

Can elephants get drunk?

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Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

04-06-2008

yes by eating over-ripe fruit,