Japan is running out of African elephants – Knowledge

Africa lies sleepy in the Japanese winter forest. Animal keeper Hideki Takehana steers the minibus through the sloping terrain of the Morioka Zoological Park in the north of the Japanese main island of Honshu. He points past needles and bare deciduous trees to a group of buildings and empty outdoor enclosures. Here is the area in the zoo where the animals from the second largest continent in the world are housed. The park is closed for renovations, so nothing is going on. Takehana parks in front of a mighty concrete building and dips his boots in a pool of water at the entrance to clean them. The hall is in cold neon light. Thick iron bars rise up. Behind it is the animal that Hideki Takehana has to give a sense of home: Mao, Morioka’s African elephant cow, 2.60 meters high, weighs four tons, 20 years old.

Zoos show a nature that does not exist at their locations. This dilemma creates problems when it comes to caring for offspring, especially that of the largest land creature on earth. The African steppe elephant does not reproduce as naturally in captivity as it does in the wild. Zoo associations around the world are aware of this problem, and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums, or Jaza for short, provides a particularly clear example. Since 2013, all attempts to breed African elephants there have failed.

Jaza zoos are gradually running out of animals of the species. 17 have died since 2012. 23 African elephants remain – including just four males, one of which is ineligible for breeding under Jaza rules because it is a forest elephant species. Among the 19 remaining female elephants, Mao from Morioka is one of those who could give birth to a cub. But for now, her story mostly shows how life in the zoo affects the biology of animals.

Mao did not get pregnant. Was it because of Taro’s bowlegs?

Mao was born in Tokyo’s Tama Zoo in 2002. Her parents were imported elephants Tamao and Ai. In 2006 Mao was brought to Morioka. At the time, Hideki Takehana traveled to Tokyo and trained with Mao for a month to get into the transport container for the twelve-hour journey. In Morioka she was supposed to mate with Taro, that was the plan. “It’s called a breeding loan,” Takehana says.

Taro was a bull elephant who had essentially reproduced once before. The elephant he had brought to Morioka from South Africa in 1991 had become pregnant from him. However, she lost the calf in 2001 and died after the stillbirth. Mao was the replacement. “They mated, but Mao didn’t get pregnant,” says Takehana. He believes that could have been due to the zoo keeping. “Taro had bowlegs, partly because he had been living on the concrete floor for so long. Because of the bowlegs, Taro could not last long enough during the intercourse to impregnate Mao.” Taro died of pneumonia in 2018. He was 29 years old.

In the wild, elephants can live up to 70 years. The soft savannah soil is good for your joints. Every day they walk many kilometers to find masses of food for their huge bodies. They live in matriarchy, that is, the herds with animals of different generations are led by elephant cows. The bull elephants mostly roam the savannah alone. They seek out the female elephants at irregular mating times. The elephant cows usually have their first calf at 16 – after about 23 months of gestation. After that, they do not ovulate for several years, so that a calf is only born about every four to five years. After the age of 50 decreases fertilitybut free-ranging female elephants can have calves into old age.

In the zoo, female elephants are fertile for a shorter period of time

Everything is different in the zoo. “Here the elephant cows have their first period at the age of eight because they are better fed,” says Takehana, “and then only until they are around 25 years old.” So less time to get pregnant – with much less interaction with other elephants. “Probably the biggest difference between here and nature is that the elephants don’t have a choice of mates,” says Hideki Takehana.

Japan’s zoos have traded elephants again and again in recent years in order to create new attractions for them. The last project for the time being began in 2018: Hanako came from Akita to the Yagiyama Zoo in Sendai to mate with the bull Ben – while Sendai’s Lilly in Akita’s Omoriyama Zoo was supposed to attract Daisuke’s attention. “We saw it as our last chance at the time,” says Wataru Hashimoto, director of breeding at Sendai Zoo. The two elephant cows, both 33, already had the mysterious menstrual disorders that scientists know from zoo elephants. But the move didn’t help. Daisuke died in 2021, since then Lilly has been alone in Akita. Hanako still hasn’t regained ovulation in Sendai. Ben stands idle with her in an enclosure.

Open detailed view

Japan’s zoos have fewer problems with the smaller Asian elephants. Japan is in Asia, and relations with the countries there are closer than with African countries. Japan’s zoos cannot buy Asian elephants any more than African ones. This is prohibited by the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. But as a gift, they can be imported. The latest three Asian elephants arrived in Toyohashi in 2021 as part of a research project from Kerala, India; there are a total of 81 Asian elephants in Japan. “The supply remains stable,” says Waka Otozu, the elephant breeding officer at the Jaza association, “but the import of African steppe elephants is hardly possible.” The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists them as endangered species. Animal rights activists are more vigilant than they used to be. So Japan must give birth to its own African elephant. There is a lack of money and space for a safari project that simulates the herd situation for a bull. The final solution is therefore already being planned. Artificial fertilization. “With the advice of overseas experts,” says Waka Otozu.

A real elephant life is not possible in the zoo

But do Japan or other countries in the northern hemisphere really need African elephants? Jaza man Otozu thinks: “If zoos have elephants, Japanese children have the chance to see real elephants and maybe get interested in nature.” In addition – Otozu does not say this – the elephant is used as an attraction. But ultimately every elephant connoisseur knows that real elephant life is not possible in a zoo.

“Honestly, it’s not going to be like this forever,” says Hideki Takehana in Morioka. He and his colleague Kousaku Maruyama are doing everything they can for Mao. They watch them constantly, they adjust their diet based on their blood and urine levels, they keep them busy. It is not enough. They keep Mao moving 13 hours a day by distributing their hay in the elephant house and in the outdoor enclosure. “But that’s still far below the movement time in nature,” says Takehana. Loneliness isn’t good for her either. After Taro’s death, Mao behaved anxiously for two years; she always slept standing up. And in winter she doesn’t like to go outside. In Morioka it can get to minus ten degrees – far too cold for an animal whose body is supposed to withstand the heat of Africa.