At Tama Zoo 's "Valley of Asian Elephant," in order to breed Asian Elephant, since May 30, 2023, Vidura (male, 15 years old) and Amara (female, 18 years old) have been kept together in the exercise area for about an hour in the morning, almost every day except on days the park is closed.

While living together, they can be seen eating together and exploring the exercise area, showing their close relationship. Amara seems interested in the male's exercise area, which she doesn't usually spend time in, and is making good use of her time playing in the water and touching the feeder. They were also seen entering the pool together.


A scene of the males walking around the exercise area in the male enclosure (left: Vidura, right: Amara).
From the first day of cohabitation, Vidura was observed mounting Amara from behind, and mating was confirmed on the ninth day of cohabitation. However, mating was only observed a few more times after that, and Amara did not accept it every time, sometimes showing signs of rejection by lifting her legs or lowering her hips.

I was worried that it might be better to separate the two, but since this is a preparation period for them to breed, I decided to leave them as they were. It turned out that when Vidura saw signs that Amara was unwilling, she didn't persistently chase after her, and in fact, separating the two was more difficult. While they sometimes refused to mate, there were also times when Amara didn't want to be separated from Vidura, and wouldn't come back even when animal keeper called her.


A picture of the mount (Vidura is resting its nose on it).
The video shows them mounting each other in the pool. Mating was not observed.

Even if this mating results in pregnancy, the gestation period for elephants is very long, about 21 to 22 months, so it will be some time before we can see a mother and calf elephant at Tama Zoo. We animal keeper will also be working together to manage the physical and mental health of the elephants, including conducting indoor training for Amara in preparation for breeding.

We hope that one day a baby elephant will be born, so please come and visit the valley where Asian Elephant live to see how Vidura and Amara are doing.

*Please note that cohabitation may be canceled depending on the animal's health condition, the weather on the day, etc.

[Tama Zoo Tama Zoological Park]

◎Related News
・ Two Sri Lankan Elephant will be on public display from March 14th. (February 28, 2013)
・ Asian Elephant "Amara" and "Vidura" are growing up. (October 20, 2017)
・ Asian Elephant "Vidura" and "Amara" released into the wild at night. (October 19, 2018)

(August 4, 2023)