For the first time in its 145-year history, Melbourne Zoo is home to a pregnant elephant, 15-year-old Dokkoon.

Victoria’s Minister for the Environment Gavin Jennings visited the Zoo on June 2 to announce the news of this milestone in the regional breeding program for Asian Elephants.

Mr Jennings said ‘this new Cooperative Conservation Breeding Program aims to create an insurance population of this critically endangered species.  Elephant populations throughout Asia are under increasing threat from the impact of expanding human populations, with drastic reductions in their rainforest habitat.

‘With another elephant already pregnant at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, there is every indication that the regional breeding program is off to an excellent start.’

Zoo Director Matt Vincent said that ‘Dokkoon is nine weeks pregnant now, but as elephant pregnancies last for 22 months there is still a long way to go.

‘Right now the embryo is a tiny 3mm dot, so there will be a lot of growth in the months to come to eventually produce a calf weighing 75kg or more.’

The Director said that ‘the ultrasound confirming the pregnancy was carried out on May 31st by fertility specialists from the Berlin-based Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, working in close cooperation with Melbourne Zoo’s veterinarians and keepers.

‘Dr Thomas Hildebrandt and his team are acknowledged world leaders in large mammal reproduction, with a special focus on elephants and rhinoceros.’

The Berlin team also visited the Zoo in March, and this pregnancy is the result of an artificial insemination (AI) procedure carried out then, with Melbourne Zoo’s bull elephant Bong Su as the sperm donor.

Dokkoon’s pregnancy is the first-ever elephant pregnancy in Australia to be produced via AI.

Dokkoon is the oldest of the three females that arrived at Melbourne Zoo from Thailand in November 2006, when five other young Thai elephants arrived at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

The Zoo’s elephant herd is made up of the bull Bong Su (aged 34), the herd matriarch Mek Kapah (35), and the three young females from Thailand: Dokkoon (15), Kulab (9), and Num-Oi (7).

When announcing the pregnancy, Minister Jennings congratulated Zoo staff on the achievement and also praised the quality of the award-winning Trail of the Elephants development.

‘The five-year-old exhibit was designed to accommodate a growing herd, with two barns, slopes suitable for sleeping on, and three pools in three interlinked paddocks, providing plenty of scope for elephants to mingle, exercise, nap, and relax.’

Senior Elephant Keeper Dave McKelson and his team are planning to keep Dokkoon very fit, with lots of exercise over the coming months as the pregnancy develops.

Photograph courtesy Jay Town, Herald Sun