One Giant Step
The Toledo Zoo began gathering information about captive elephant breeding from institutions all over the country (including the Indianapolis Zoo, the International Elephant Foundation, the Oregon Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, and The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) Elephant Taxon Advisory Group) well in advance of embarking on a breeding program with our own elephants, Rafiki and Renee. In fact, it has been an on-going learning experience since 1987.

All They Gotta do is Act Naturally!
Well, that's what we thought back in December of 1998, when we sent our two female elephants, Rafiki and Renee, to the Pittsburgh Zoo to breed with their resident bull elephant, Jack. The Pittsburgh Zoo was chosen for this endeavor because of its proximity to The Toledo Zoo, its available space, and Jack's proven track record when it comes to impregnating females. Unfortunately, after a year and one week at Pittsburgh, neither Rafiki nor Renee became pregnant.

If at First You Don't Succeed...
After the failed attempt at natural breeding in Pittsburgh, it was back to the drawing board. In October of 2000, The Toledo Zoo partnered with Dr. Dennis Schmitt, professor at Southwest Missouri State University and Elephant Reproductive Specialist, who performed three separate artificial insemination (AI) procedures on Rafiki.

Dr. Schmitt discovered an obstruction in Rafiki's reproductive tract that made non-surgical AI difficult (the obstruction will not interfere with the birthing process). Instead, he opted to perform a surgical AI, wherein an incision was made just below Rafiki's tail in order to circumvent the obstruction. Dr. Schmitt is one of only two people in the world capable of performing this procedure, and The Toledo Zoo is one of only a handful of zoos that have even attempted the AI procedure.

The procedure was a success, and Rafiki became the first elephant in the world to conceive a calf through surgical AI. Unfortunately, her calf was stillborn on July 27, 2002.

Renee's Turn
The Toledo Zoo decided to call on Dr. Schmitt's expertise once again in July 2001 this time to perform 2 non-surgical AI attempts on Renee. Semen was collected at other institutions and transported to The Toledo Zoo.

Once again, all the hard work and dedication on the part of everyone involved in our elephant-breeding program paid off; Renee conceived. The Zoo believes that the successful semen came from Bulwagi, a bull elephant from Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Florida. Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom provided additional elephant semen, and their expertise was used in the collection of semen from Bulwagi. Renee successfully delivered a male calf, named Louie, on April 30, 2003.

*The success thus far of The Toledo Zoo's elephant-breeding program is due to many years of hard work and dedication on the part of The Toledo Zoo staff and many other people and organizations. In addition to Dr. Schmitt, some of the important contributors to the elephant reproduction process include: Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt, Institute Fur Zoo Und Wildtierforschung (IZW) of Berlin, Germany; Janine Brown, PhD, Conservation Research Center in Washington, DC; Debbie Olson, American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) North American Regional African Elephant Studbook Keeper; and the staffs at the Indianapolis Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Lion Country Safari. Locally, The Toledo Hospital Fertility Center and Laboratory provided routine blood analysis.