"Sabu" the elephant is back home after, ahem, doing his job in Columbus. The Cincinnati Zoo says Sabu impregnated two Asian elephants at the Columbus Zoo after spending nearly two years there.
Director of Animal Care Christina Gorsuch says Sabu is being slowly introduced to the two females who arrived in Cincinnati last November, "SheRa" and "Anak," with hopes they, too, will eventually become pregnant.
She says Sabu was loaned to Columbus as part of the Species Survival Plan, which is designed to maintain genetic diversity of threatened and endangered species. Sabu has been replaced in Columbus by "Johnson," who is on loan from Ontario, Canada.
“Sabu is one of the most genetically valuable elephants in North American and has no living offspring,” Gorsuch says. “We’re all breathing a sigh of relief to know that he can contribute to the survival of his species making baby elephants and ensuring his legacy in multiple herds.”
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The International Elephant Foundation estimates there are only 40,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants left, due to poaching and the loss of their native habitat in southern and southeastern Asia.
Gorsuch says gestation for elephants takes 22 months, so while the Cincinnati Zoo's new elephant habitat opens this fall, it won't have little big ones for a while. The two calves in Columbus are expected next year.
