The first elephant born at the Louisville Zoo made his first public appearance Wednesday afternoon.

A 21-year-old African elephant named Mikki gave birth to the calf last month.

He was born weighing 285lbs and was 37.5 inches tall.

It’s the first elephant born in the zoo’s 38-year history.

The zoo is holding a contest to name the baby and other new additions including a female pygmy hippo, a female antelope and three maned wolf pups.

The Thai National Elephant Institute (TNEI) plans to offer the country’s elephant born as a result of artificial insemination to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a gift on his 80th birthday on December 5 this year.

The male baby elephant – which is going to celebrate her one-month birthday this Saturday – is now being cared for by Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TEC) officials in northern Lampang province. The centre is under the patronage of the institute.

Just three days after her birth, the little pachyderm was separated from her mother, because the mother showed some hostile signs against her first baby.

The baby jumbo – which has yet to be named – has been placed in foster care with another female adult who has experience of taking care of a baby elephant of her own.

Veterinarians said that the baby elephant would have to live with her “adoptive mother” for three years.

Her health indications are good, accordinbg to veterinary staff. Both her height and weight are in line with the average standard for her age.

Over the past year, unprecedented numbers of African elephants have been slaughtered for their ivory tusks, the Washington Post reported recently. Between August 2005 and August 2006, authorities worldwide seized more than 24 tons of smuggled elephant ivory being shipped to the Far East alone, though actual poaching levels were probably much higher, according to Samuel Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. In a new study, Wasser and his colleagues note that because customs agents typically detect only about 10 percent of all contraband, the real figure may have topped 240 tons of ivory, representing 23,000 elephants or roughly 5 percent of Africa’s total elephant population.

Analysts attribute the rising death toll to weak enforcement of the worldwide ban on international ivory sales, adopted in 1989 under the auspices of the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In its early years, the ban was largely effective due to heightened public attention to the ivory trade and government funding for anti-poaching efforts. Elephant populations rebounded substantially, especially in southern Africa. But in recent years, as exceptions to the ban have increased and funding has dried up, the illegal killings have resumed.

Ivory markets diminished considerably in the United States and Europe following passage of the ban, but the demand for ivory jewelry and other products remains high in East Asia, with the price of one kilogram of high-quality ivory on the Chinese black market skyrocketing from US$100 in 1989 to US$750 in 2006. According to the Washington Post, organized crime has contributed to the problem, as narcotics and other contraband are often shipped alongside the tusks, raising the stakes and incentives for poachers.

Wasser’s team used DNA analysis to determine the origins of a 6.5-ton illegal ivory shipment (representing 3,000–6,500 poached elephants) confiscated in Singapore in 2002. By examining the tusks and taking random DNA samples to track genetic differences, they were able to prove that the ivory came from a small area in and around Zambia, and not from a variety of locations as was initially assumed. This ability to pinpoint the origin of confiscated ivory is considered critical to future elephant conservation efforts.

According to Wasser, a well-funded anti-poaching program that includes DNA analysis has the potential to dramatically curb illegal killings and related criminal activity, thus preventing ivory from reaching the international market. The World Wildlife Fund reports that conservation efforts are also focusing on “controlling ivory stockpiles, establishing and strengthening the borders of protected areas, preventing poaching, and carefully managing elephants to avoid increased conflict with human populations. Greater outreach to East Asian consumers through campaigns similar to those seeking to stem demand for shark-fin soup is also considered essential for successful elephant conservation.

Wits University has just completed studies on how elephants cope with high African temperatures and how that influences their behaviour. In African savannahs, elephants are exposed to high environmental heat loads during the day and low ambient temperatures at night and yet these animals are able to cope quite adequately.

Temperature plays such a big role in their natural behaviour and researchers are hoping that these findings may serve as a stepping stone in finding alternative ways of controlling the ever-growing elephant population.

Infrared pictures

Thermography is used to measure temperature through infrared pictures. The aim of using the infrared pictures is to determine how the elephant heats up and dispenses of that heat. The infrared picture comes up in different colours where red is extremely hot and blue is cold. This technology was first developed by the military.

Because elephants are such big animals they heat up quickly and their ability to dispense of that heat will determine where one would find them. It was found that the elephant calf just like a human baby, heats up very quickly. “We suspect that probably out in the wild populations, the herd may well be determined by the babies’ temperature. When babies’ temperature is really hot, they then need to got to water,” says Phillipa Hidden, a masters student at the school of physiology at Wits University.

Studies also found that the elephant’s feet are very hot, enabling them to walk on high temperatures without sustaining any injuries.

Hidden says that this research may hopefully later be combined in studies to understand the animal better and address issues like population control.

Tusko, the Oregon Zoo elephant, is finally tuskless.

The big 35-year-old bull elephant broke both his tusks during the late 1970s. His right tusk was removed when he was a young elephant. But his left one remained, and was a source of infections. It could have been a source of more. “Bacteria build up in the wound and may enter the bloodstream”, according to lead veterinarian Mitch Finnegan. “This can cause heart problems.”

On February 17th, surgeons set about removing that broken, rotting tusk. The delicate, all-day operation succeeded in removing most, but not all of it.

Sunday, a four-hour operation finished the job. Surgeons used new drills and chisels, and the tusk is gone. Tusko has been awakend from his anaesthesia, and is expected to fully recover, though slowly; the entire recovery process could take up to a year. Zookeepers point out, however, that Tusko’s overall condition should continue improving as that wound heals and fills in.

If Hogle Zoo’s plans to jump-start an elephant pregnancy are successful, it could be years before officials will be able to identify the father.

German animal insemination experts made two attempts to set Christie down the road of motherhood as part of a national species conservation project, zoo spokeswoman Holly Braithwaite said. It will be at least six months before blood tests reveal whether the elephant is pregnant. A paternity test would have to wait until after the birth.

In 2004, Christie received an ultrasound that showed her reproductive tract was structurally sound. This week’s are the first attempts at artificial insemination.

The German team stopped at the zoo in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sunday to collect a fresh sperm sample from a male elephant, she said. They then carried the sample onto a flight to Salt Lake City.

Genetic material from the Indianapolis zoo also was overnighted as part of the insemination procedure. A total of three samples - two from Pittsburgh - were implanted in Christie.

If the pregnancy takes, the German team would return to perform a follow-up ultrasound, which must be done inside the elephant, as the skin is too thick for traditional ultrasound techniques.

Christie has a 2 1/2 day fertility window that occurs three times a year, and she would carry her offspring for two years.