Breeding Facts & Statistics
AZA recommendations call for 57 African elephant breedings by 2009 (31 through artificial insemination).

Dennis Schmitt DVM, PhD, DACT, Alumni Professor in Reproductive Biology from Missouri State University who is performing this first AI attempt at RWPZ, performs about 8-10 AI’s a year with a 30-40 % success rate.  (The success rate for natural breeding is estimated to be at 50 – 60%.)  Dr. Schmitt has had a role in 14 AI pregnancies, and over 40 pregnancies overall.

AZA institutions had 10 successful elephant births (both African and Asian) between 2000 and 2005 - an average of two per year.  However, there is a need for more AZA institutions to breed elephants to keep the population healthy.  It is estimated that to sustain the species at a healthy level in captivity nine births per year are needed.

There are two methods to breeding elephants – the natural way, and through artificial insemination (“AI”).  AI is the more practical method for a number of reasons including:

1. The nature of a bull (or male) elephant.  Bulls are naturally more aggressive than their female counterparts, requiring more specialized facilities to care for them safely, and not all zoos have these specialized facilities.
2. The sheer logistics of transporting an elephant for breeding and the accompanying stress that puts on the animal.  Compounding this, is the precise timing of the female elephant’s reproductive cycle and the real possibility that there may not be any “chemistry” between the female and the male – in which case all the precise timing, effort, expense and stress involved in an elephant transport could be for naught.
   

Elephants cycle every 13 to 16 weeks, offering only about three chances per year to breed; knowing each animal’s exact cycle is crucial to a successful conception.

The elephant’s reproductive cycle is monitored through frequent blood tests that check the levels of progesterone in the blood.  When the progesterone hits its lowest point, ovulation can be expected to occur in four to six weeks.

Within 24 hours of the expected date of ovulation, sperm samples must be obtained from a pool of potential male elephants (“bulls”).  Which bulls are suitable donors is determined by the African elephant Species Survival Plan (SSP) coordinators, run through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Once samples are obtained they are checked for quality (good sperm count, motility, etc.) and then must be sent via expedited delivery service in a special container.  Because the samples must be kept cool but cannot be frozen, they must make the transition from bull to female within 24 hours.

If samples from multiple bulls are deemed viable, these will be combined into one container, along with a special “extending” agent, for the actual insemination.  This allows for a greater volume of sperm, which increases the chances for successful fertilization.