JERUSALEM: Artificially enseminated elephant due to give birth, the first in Israel

Employees of Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo are preparing themselves for the birth of Israel's first ever elephant baby produced through artificial insemination. Twenty-year-old Tamar is nearing the last days of her pregnancy and zoo keepers say the birth will be a breakthrough in efforts to conserve the endangered Asian elephant. On Wednesday (December 7) last minute preparations were underway to ensure that the risky delivery runs smoothly. "We are in the last weeks of the period of pregnancy of Tamar the elephant in Tisch Family zoological Gardens of Jerusalem known as the Biblical Zoo. This is a very unique pregnancy because we are speaking about artificial insemination. This is a breakthrough concerning conservation efforts of breeding the endangered species of the Asian elephant and we are very proud to announce that Jerusalem is one of the pioneers in the world to bring the new message of breeding and conservation for the Asian elephant in the world," Head of the Biblical Zoo, Hagai Doron told reporters. To date, there are only approximately 38,000 to 51,000 wild Asian elephants in comparison to their counterparts the African elephants, of which there are some 600,000. "The success of the pregnancy and the success of the efforts of the artificial insemination, it's very worthwhile to the future of the conservation efforts of the Asian elephant in the world. In any case, we are very proud that we had the success with this effort and with this project," Doron added. Zookeepers want to ensure that Tamar's delivery is as natural and unhindered as possible and therefore decided to install security cameras in her enclosure to keep an eye on her progress with relatively little intervention. "We hope that the delivery will be as natural as possible. In order to make sure that it is natural we are standing by day and night, watching through a video system the elephants, even at night. Part of it is just not to interrupt the lady before the delivery itself. We are trying not to push ourselves into the house every two minutes, but to try to watch it from here, from the house itself on the video system, and if necessary to go and watch eye-to-eye and see what's going on," explained zoo employee Shmulik Yedvaba. The new baby will be an addition to a group of some five elephants already present in the zoo, of which Tamar is the herd leader. Tamar was artificially inseminated two years ago in Jerusalem as part of a joint project between a group of German and Israeli specialists. The proud father is a male elephant named Emett which is based in Whipsnade Zoo in England. Female Asian elephants are capable of giving birth approximately every 4 to 6 years, about 7 calves in a lifetime. Babies are carried by their mothers for 19 to 22 months, almost 2 years, before birth. Asian elephants can live as long as 60 to 70 years.

ITN Source | December 9, 2005

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