Chendra's Future

The zoos hope is that Chendra, who has spent the last three years as a solitary elephant, will become an integrated member of the Oregon Zoos female social group which includes three females of different ages. Elephants are social animals and benefit from being in a group where the age structure includes older and younger animals. Younger animals in these social groups have the opportunity to learn mothering skills which may help prepare them to care for their own calves. Providing a beneficial social environment for Chendra will also give the Oregon Zoos elephants a much needed companion, and work toward the goal of increasing the genetic diversity of the overall North American population of Asian elephants.

The survival of the elephant is a global problem. In his book Gone Astray, the Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity, published in 1997, Richard Lair summarizes the situation for Asian elephants. He says that at this time, there are no self-sustaining captive Asian elephant populations in Asia or any other country. The human population in Asia is expected to double within the next 30 years, which will undoubtedly adversely affect the wild and domesticated populations of elephants.

Bob Wiese, Ph.D., American Zoo and Aquarium's Small Population Management Advisor to the Elephant Species Survival Plan and Assistant Director of Collections at the Fort Worth Zoo, has shown that by the year 2038, the North American elephant population will consist of 22 females over the age of 30 years--all past the prime age of reproduction. Lair notes that the North American population, though better off than the European, is not self-sustaining and would some day be dependent on acquiring breeding elephants from Asia for the purpose of protecting genetic diversity. The possibility of transporting orphaned or captive-bred elephants from Asian countries to foreign zoos has been recognized in the major conservation plans from Asian governments and conservation organizations.