At least 4 elephants pregnant at Sedgwick County Zoo, herd growing
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - It’ll be a while before the public can meet them, but four baby elephants are arriving at Sedgwick County Zoo.
Here’s how the zoo staff describes its four pregnant elephants:
- Simunye, 7 months pregnant, nurturing and protective, baby currently the size of a papaya
- Talia, 6 months pregnant, independent and sassy, baby the size of a coconut
- Xolani, 5 months pregnant, observant and cautious, baby the size of a grapefruit
- Arusi, 4 months pregnant, center of attention and foody, baby the size of an avocado
Elephants are pregnant for about 18-22 months, which could be up to a year before the first baby is born. Zoo staff promises updates on the pregnancies, which zoo staff say are inherently risky in the early stages.
“We maintain a cautious optimism and eagerly anticipate sharing updates along this journey,” staff said.
This is the first time the Sedgwick County Zoo has had elephant pregnancies. For more than 40 years, two females, Stephanie and Cinda, were the zoo’s only elephants. Cinda died in 2015. Six elephants ed Stephanie in 2016 to form a true herd.
Stephanie, now in her early 50s, is past the reproductive age for elephants. With babies on the way between March and June of 2025, the Sedgwick County Zoo expects to keep all of them in the herd.
“With elephants, their social structure is a female family group. The females live together their whole lives and we mimic that in the zoo as well,” said Sedgwick County Zoo Elephant Manager Lauren Ripple. “Bulls, once their testosterone starts increasing, they naturally get kicked out of the herd and form loose bachelor groups. These babies, we should have for close to a decade if they’re males, and the females, for a lifetime.”
There’s also optimism at the Sedgwick County Zoo that a fifth elephant could be pregnant. The zoo will post updates on its Facebook page.
Ripple said we can expect to see the first ultrasound of Simunye’s baby in a few months.
“The abdominal ultrasound will come about 10 to 12 months, is when you can start seeing the calf,” she said.
At this point, the zoo doesn’t know who the father(s) of the expected elephants are. Ripple said this summer, they brought in a bull named Callee, from Omaha, to help the zoo’s elephant reproduction efforts.
“We were lucky enough to get four pregnancies. Now, we don’t know if Callee is the father of all of them,” Ripple said.
Paternity tests won’t happen until after the babies are born. It’s a waiting game for about a year and a half until the declining African elephant population grows every so slightly.
“This is huge for the African elephant population,” Ripple said. “Right now, there’s 13 confirmed pregnancies in the United States, and we are four of them. It’s historic for the zoo.”
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