environment accelerates the developmentof that intelligence. You can go into the cages with them. You canât do that with tigers, or polar bears, for example. You canât do that kind of work with a lot of species. You certainly canât get a bird to stand still and hold its wing up while you get a blood sample every week. You have to grab the bird, hold it down, itâs strugglingâwhereas an elephant can be trained to stand there while you get a blood sample, and you give her an apple when youâre done, and she thinks sheâs getting a bargain.â
It is also Mike Schmidtâs job to act as matchmaker to the elephants. One of his concerns is genetics; the herd at Washington Park represents a limited gene pool. Of the twenty-four calves born there, nineteen have survived. Two of the dead were the offspring of Packy and Hanako, who are brother and half sister, and one was the offspring of Thonglaw and his daughter Hanako. (The two other deaths were apparently due to random congenital defects.) Such close genetic pairings are no longer made, although Packy and his half sister Me-Tu have twice reproduced without any problems. Schmidt must consider not only the elephantsâ degree of relatedness but also the age and experience of both cow and bull, their relative size, whether the bull is in musth, and the personalities involved. Some cows have expressed strong opinions about certain bulls, and the bulls, while somewhat less discriminating, also have their preferences.
âWhen mating goes on, the cow has to cooperate,â Schmidt said. âThe bull has to be on good terms with that cow. Weâve seen enough cases where a bull doesnât like a specific cow, or cows wonât stand for a certain bull, whereas they will stand nicely for another one. Elephants are capable of forming that kind of relationship. They tend to have the same sorts of problems that all complex, intelligent animals haveâlike the primates, and ourselves.â
Schmidt allows the elephants whatever accommodations they need, which may mean a night alone in a yard for one pair and a private room for another. Tunga, having been brought up as a show animal, wonât approach a cow in front of human beings. âElephantsâparticularly the older animalsâare not like cattle,where you have a female in heat and you bring in a bull and he jumps up and breeds her,â Schmidt explained. âThereâs a chemistry between elephants. A really experienced bull doesnât like it when a cow doesnât act the way an experienced cow ought toâwhen her response is abnormal, to put it in scientific terms. The bull will often become immediately aggressive if the cow is behaving strangely. She may not know what to do. But a young bull doesnât careâa young, eager, excited bull will try to breed any cow he can. The difficulty the younger bulls have is that older cows can dominate them, because theyâre bigger or wiser. If the cow doesnât want to cooperate, a young bull doesnât have the equipment and the technique and the size to assert himself, whereas an older bull will sort the situation out in a hurry.â
By November of 1974, Thonglaw had sired fifteen calves, of whom twelve survived. He would not submit to chains in order to undergo foot care, and had consequently suffered from foot problems for years. Schmidt resolved to do something about this, and after consulting Morgan Berry he decided to tranquilize the elephantâalways a risky procedure. To everyoneâs dismay, Thonglaw died under sedation. (The crush was developed and built as a kind of memorial to Thonglaw, to spare future elephants the same risk.) Packy, then twelve, became the patriarch. He has since fathered seven calves.
âPacky makes it clear what he wants,â Schmidt told me. âWeâd be afraid to put Tamba in with Packy, because he seems to dislike her, and heâs so much bigger than
It is also Mike Schmidtâs job to act as matchmaker to the elephants. One of his concerns is genetics; the herd at Washington Park represents a limited gene pool. Of the twenty-four calves born there, nineteen have survived. Two of the dead were the offspring of Packy and Hanako, who are brother and half sister, and one was the offspring of Thonglaw and his daughter Hanako. (The two other deaths were apparently due to random congenital defects.) Such close genetic pairings are no longer made, although Packy and his half sister Me-Tu have twice reproduced without any problems. Schmidt must consider not only the elephantsâ degree of relatedness but also the age and experience of both cow and bull, their relative size, whether the bull is in musth, and the personalities involved. Some cows have expressed strong opinions about certain bulls, and the bulls, while somewhat less discriminating, also have their preferences.
âWhen mating goes on, the cow has to cooperate,â Schmidt said. âThe bull has to be on good terms with that cow. Weâve seen enough cases where a bull doesnât like a specific cow, or cows wonât stand for a certain bull, whereas they will stand nicely for another one. Elephants are capable of forming that kind of relationship. They tend to have the same sorts of problems that all complex, intelligent animals haveâlike the primates, and ourselves.â
Schmidt allows the elephants whatever accommodations they need, which may mean a night alone in a yard for one pair and a private room for another. Tunga, having been brought up as a show animal, wonât approach a cow in front of human beings. âElephantsâparticularly the older animalsâare not like cattle,where you have a female in heat and you bring in a bull and he jumps up and breeds her,â Schmidt explained. âThereâs a chemistry between elephants. A really experienced bull doesnât like it when a cow doesnât act the way an experienced cow ought toâwhen her response is abnormal, to put it in scientific terms. The bull will often become immediately aggressive if the cow is behaving strangely. She may not know what to do. But a young bull doesnât careâa young, eager, excited bull will try to breed any cow he can. The difficulty the younger bulls have is that older cows can dominate them, because theyâre bigger or wiser. If the cow doesnât want to cooperate, a young bull doesnât have the equipment and the technique and the size to assert himself, whereas an older bull will sort the situation out in a hurry.â
By November of 1974, Thonglaw had sired fifteen calves, of whom twelve survived. He would not submit to chains in order to undergo foot care, and had consequently suffered from foot problems for years. Schmidt resolved to do something about this, and after consulting Morgan Berry he decided to tranquilize the elephantâalways a risky procedure. To everyoneâs dismay, Thonglaw died under sedation. (The crush was developed and built as a kind of memorial to Thonglaw, to spare future elephants the same risk.) Packy, then twelve, became the patriarch. He has since fathered seven calves.
âPacky makes it clear what he wants,â Schmidt told me. âWeâd be afraid to put Tamba in with Packy, because he seems to dislike her, and heâs so much bigger than
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