Bornean Pygmy Elephant Researcher Megan English | Stuff.co.nz
In my opinion, not one of the more attractive sub-species of elephant. The Oregon Zoo in Portland has the only Borneo elephant in the United States, a seventeen-year-old female orphan called Chendra. There are plans to breed Chendra with the zoo's Tusko!!!!! Why, why in the world would they do that?
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New York's Bronx Zoo was once home to a famous male pygmy elephant called Congo. Captured in 1905 in the French Congo, he stood only 3 ft. 8 in. at the shoulder. He was less than 7 ft. tall when he died ten years later.
Even more unusual is the water elephant of Zaire. Standing 6-8 ft. at the shoulder, the water elephant has a neck twice as long as the African elephant, a short trunk and no tusks. In 1989 German zoologists announced the pygmy elephant should be classified as a valid species, Loxodonta pumilio.
Greg,
What, I have never heard of a "water elephant of Zaire." Do you have more on this animal?
Wade
Wade,
they are interbreeding the bornean subspecies here to, Hanover Zoo has two Bornean females called Manari and Sayang they have been bred with Calvin and Nicolai.
Here is what I found on the Internet about the Zaire water elephant - the photo looks more like a tapir.
http://cryptidsaurian.blogspot.com/2011/05/zaire-water-elephant.html
thats not a tapir its a moeritherium an ancestor of the modern day elephants, as for the Zaire water elephant it's a cryptid just like the Yeti and bigfoot
Greg,
It does look somewhat like a tapir or a giant blind mole. I thought you were referring to something around today, actually.
Wade
Bjorn,
I can't imagine breeding the elephants as Hanover has supposedly done. With so much spoken out against lion/tiger cross's and stud books for keeping Siberian, Indian, Sumatran(rightfully so) pure, why breed the Bornean Pygmy with anything other then a Bornean Pygmy. If a female Bornean is used it is a no brainer that the offspring will be small. The two Bornean females called Manari and Sayang, have they just been bred, or have they given birth to viable offspring?
Wade
By breeding Bornean Pygmies with "normal" Asians, I assume there would be a risk of the calf killing the mother during birth, too large to pass successfully? It happens often enough with "normal" pairings. I can't imagine the consequences of a large animal such as Tusko siring a calf with such a small female like Chendra.
Wade,
O yes they have:). Manari has two calves: first a female named Califa (Calvin x Manari) she whas bor on 2003-02-03 her EEP number is 200301. her second calf is a male called Dinkar (Nicolai x Manari) he whas born on 2010-08-06 his EEP number is 201000. Sayang has one calf a female called Saphira (Nicolai x Sayang) she whas born on 2010-05-07. And then there is Califa Manaris first calf, she gave birth to a male called Felix (Nicolai x Califa) he whas born on 2010-07-25. Al their offspring is still alive to this day.
Bjorn,
Thank you, do you know of any recent pictures of the offspring? If we are to take the lead of Hanover, as Siberian blood lines deplete, breed back to Sumatrans, I guess. Or at the least, breed back to white tigers to get a bit more Siberian blood. You won't have to worry about the white gene for a while.
Wade
Wade,
I found the website of Petra Prager via Radars website, its called elefanten foto lexicon the link is below. Typ the name of the elephant in the searchbar and it will show a picture of the animal click on that and the rest of the pictures will be shown
http://www.elefanten-fotolexikon.eu/index.php?lang=en
Bjorn,
Thank you for the link to a great site, and thank you Radar for first posting it. I wasn't aware of it, and somehow missed it on Radar's deal.
In looking at the picture's, I can only ask once again, why in the world would you cross an Asian elephant on a Bornean Pygmy elephant????? Is there a European or American elephant person out there that can explain the reasoning behind such an undertaking? Radar, Wayne, Glenn, anybody?
Wade
Wade,
I can think of one reason, and thats baby elephants bring extra visitors to a zoo and so extra money.
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