Elephant baby media kit - Oregon Zoo

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elephant lands the New Elephant HABITAT well-being of these gentle giants and to satisfy their social and behavioral needs. Thanks to funding from a 2008 bond, the Oregon Zoo is designing a new Asian elephant habitat that will put this understanding to work and exemplify the community’s commitment to animal welfare and sustainability. The habitat will not only exceed standards set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums but also serve as a pioneering example of exhibit design. As work progresses, the Oregon Zoo Foundation will be seeking donor support to augment the new habitat and ensure the zoo remains a world leader in elephant management and care. Elephant areas Elephant Meadow: A broad, grassy expanse of land, the northern habitat will be accessible to elephants from the Elephant Meander area. Forest Hall: For visitors, this main indoor viewing area will offer both panoramic and up-close views of the animals as well as a variety of educational displays. For elephants, it will offer sand flooring, enrichment stations and access to the outdoors — elephants will often be able to come and go as they please. Elephant Building: This behind-the-scenes barn will extend from Forest Hall. Features like natural flooring materials, spacious holding facilities and a quarantine area with its own heating and ventilation systems will help ensure elephant health and well-being. Taken together, Forest Hall and the Elephant Building form one of the largest indoor elephant facilities in North America. Elephant Meander: The habitat’s southern portion will have a rich landscape with mud flats, grassy hills, sandy beaches, water activity pools and shaded resting spots. O R E G O N Z O O P A C h y d e r m P r e s e n t 2 0 1 2 M E D I A K I T 16
Conservation in north america Species Survival Plan and Taxon Advisory Group The Elephant Species Survival Plan (SSP) was established in 1985 as a cooperative program to manage the elephant population in North American zoos. Administered by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the elephant SSP’s goal is to maintain a healthy, sustainable elephant population that is both genetically and demographically stable by managing breeding protocols among member zoos. The Oregon Zoo’s director of elephant habitats, Mike Keele, was an SSP founding member and served as the species coordinator for the elephant SSP through 2000when it was reorganized to become a Species Survival Plan and Taxon Advisory Group (TAG/SSP). He served as chair of that group until 2010. The Elephant TAG/SSP manages the North American elephant population by recommending breeding and transfers. Additionally, the Elephant TAG/SSP oversees population management, reviews research and education proposals, sets conservation priorities, and develops husbandry manuals, which set standards based on current scientific knowledge in the areas of diet, housing, enrichment and care of elephants in zoos. In addition to the SSP coordinator, two “studbook keepers” maintain the vital records of the entire North American population of both species (African and Asian), including births, deaths, transfers and lineages. Keele authored the original studbook for Asian elephants and continues to maintain it with new information. Using the studbook, the management group creates a master plan that outlines the goals for the entire North American populations of both African and Asian elephants. It designs a “family tree” for each elephant in order to plan breeding for maximum genetic diversity. In addition to the recommendations about which elephants are most important to breed, master plans include recommendations to avoid breeding elephants that already have many offspring and siblings in the populations. To learn more, visit elephanttag.org. Breeding at the Oregon Zoo The Oregon Zoo has one of the most successful breeding programs for captive elephants in the world. Twentyseven Asian elephants have been born here over the past five decades, which amounts to 17 percent of all elephants born in North America during that period. When Packy was born at the Oregon Zoo in 1962, he was the first elephant to be born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. The Oregon Zoo was the first zoo to achieve second-generation breeding by producing elephant calves from elephants born in Portland. The zoo has pioneered Asian elephant breeding, with important discoveries such as the length of the elephant gestation period and how to monitor the estrous cycle of female elephants to know when they are capable of breeding. The Oregon Zoo’s elephant facility is one of the major reasons its breeding program has been so successful. The zoo can house adult bull elephants, allowing for normal behavior during musth, when they can be extremely aggressive. At the same time, the facility is also large enough to house normal social groups of female elephants, creating a healthy breeding population. The zoo is currently monitoring Rose-Tu, due to give birth in late November or December 2012. Rose-Tu was impregnated by Tusko, who arrived at the Oregon Zoo in 2005 on breeding loan from a California elephant facility. The zoo acquired Tusko to restart its breeding program because its other two bulls, Rama and Packy, are overrepresented in the gene pool and related to Rose-Tu, making them poor candidates for breeding. Samudra, born on Aug. 23, 2008, was the last elephant born at the Oregon Zoo. O R E G O N Z O O P A C h y d e r m P r e s e n t 2 0 1 2 M E D I A K I T 17
Page 1 and 2: Pachyderm Present Pending Oregon Zo
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Page 7 and 8: 50 years of elephant Births at the
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Elephant baby media kit - Oregon Zoo

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