Zoo in Europe plans to buy semen of bull elephant in Singapore Zoo
SINGAPORE: Singapore's largest mammal is in heat and has been isolated from the other elephants as he can be aggressive.
But his behaviour is far from making him Mr Unpopular as a zoo in Europe is looking to get his help in impregnating one of their female elephants.
Hurling mud balls at zookeepers and chasing buggies - just some of the odd symptoms Chawang has been showing in the past month as he experiences sexual heat, also known as musth.
"The word musth is a Persian word and what it means is intoxication. We don't put in females together with him when he is on musth because he is aggressive and we don't want the females to be injured. Once he is out of musth, he is always with the female and as a matter of fact, we've got 2 breeding females right now and one of them is already nursing a young and the other female has been mated by him and we are hopeful she is pregnant," said Kumar Pilla, Curator, Zoology, Night Safari.
As a precaution, zookeepers do not handle Chawang directly during this period.
They make sure there is always a metal barrier separating them from the elephant.
Chawang's musth is expected to last 3 to 5 months.
During this period, temporal glands located between his eyes and ears will swell up and secrete hormones, his urine will also dribble continuously.
Other symptoms include stretching his body, frequent yawning, and digging his tusks into the ground to lighten the pressure caused by the swelling of the temporal glands in his face.
A zoo in Europe is planning to purchase Chawang's semen for use in artificial insemination in one of their female elephants.
Chawang's semen is valuable because he is one of the few wild born elephants to be found in zoos, and he can contribute to the genetic diversity of the global zoo elephant gene pool.
Chawang is 29 years old and he is the father of 3 baby elephants.
His annual musth is expected to last till he is 50 when he experiences menopause.
Chawang is the same elephant that nearly gored his keeper to death in 2001.
