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| Regarding Bull Elephants and Musth | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 27 2017, 10:22 PM (460 Views) | |
| Narcissa | Feb 27 2017, 10:22 PM Post #1 |
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So, I've been trying to make a breeding center for African Bush Elephants and of course, to get babies, you need a bull. My problem is, i'd like to house two different bulls and if at all possible, keep them together when not in Musth. Otherwise, they'd have two separate indoor and outdoor exhibits with no physical contact with each other to prevent aggression between them. Would this be sufficient safety measures? Any suggestions? |
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| magpiealamode | Feb 28 2017, 12:19 AM Post #2 |
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No good hero is a one-trick phony.
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It's an interesting question, when keeping animals captive one must make the living space as natural as possible. Yet a zoo or farm or breeding center can never be a substitute for nature. In the wild, mature bull elephants live alone, but occasionally meet up with others of the species to satisfy their social needs. Unfortunately this cannot be replicated well by man, as elephants cover vast areas in their wanderings. My suggestion would be to have private enclosures for each bull, all connected to a common yard. That way they can socialize when necessary, and be alone if they need. |
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| Narcissa | Feb 28 2017, 12:44 AM Post #3 |
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So separate indoor enclosures but joint outdoor, leaving them the option to be alone if they want to? Elephants are such big animals that it's hard to truly meet every need in captivity, let alone in ZT2. The yards would all be massive as well, plenty of room for any of the elephants to get away from one another if they needed to. |
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| magpiealamode | Feb 28 2017, 02:34 AM Post #4 |
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No good hero is a one-trick phony.
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That sounds good, though I am not an expert on elephants, just a nature enthusiast
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| Jony | Feb 28 2017, 04:50 AM Post #5 |
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Well, actually you can keep two adult bull elephants together. Most real zoos which are building new elephant exhibits have space for more than one bull, in the most cases for an adult one and a younger one who can learn from the adult one. But there some zoos that have two adult bulls together like Cologne in Germany (both bulls are breeding) or Zurich in Switzerland. Adult bulls are not as solitary as many people think. In the last years scientifists found out that bulls are also very social animals, that's why zoos try to build exhibits with space for more than one bull. When I was in South Africa, I could see groups of about 15 or 20 bull elephants in one place more than one time. Although most of them were younger bulls, there were always also a few adult bulls who enjoyed to play-fight with others like the juvenile bulls often do. ![]() About the musth: I think every bull elephant reacts different, some don't have much of a change in behaviour, others are getting way more aggressive. I think separate indoor exhibits and a joint outdoor exhibit like magpiealanode suggested isn't a bad idea. Maybe you could also add two small separate off-show outdoor pens, the real zoos that have more than one bull have those outdoor pens often called "bull kraal". So, it's like indoor area -> outdoor pens (kraals) -> outdoor exhibit. That way you would be very flexible if you have to separate the bulls during the musth. I hope you unterstand.
Edited by Jony, Feb 28 2017, 04:52 AM.
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| KoenZoo | Feb 28 2017, 01:28 PM Post #6 |
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I think Jony his reaction gave you enough information, but Birmingham Zoo currently keeps four males together. Though like in the wild the bulls are of different ages, so like Jony says, they can learn from the older bull. If you want some more information you could google on that zoo, I once found an interesting article about their ideas of combining bulls. |
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| Narcissa | Feb 28 2017, 01:59 PM Post #7 |
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I was actually reading about bull elephants the other night and it was actually quite cool. I may very well be wrong but I don't think off show exhibits would be necessary as it's not open to the public. Ideally i'd like to go with bulls who were raised together, yet unrelated, in hopes to further reduce any chance of aggression. |
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