Elephant Collection

The City Assembly of Ostrava approved the transfer of the last part of the collection, announced by the Ostrava Zoo in April 2014, to an account of the Berlin Institute dealing with elephant disease research. The total sum of the collection is unbelievable CZK 878,655.22!

Raised money is intended for the support to elephant disease research which has been carried out in the Berline IZW under the leadership of prof. Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt, a globally recognised expert in the field of veterinary medicine as well as in research and nature protection. His team deals with the study of an effect of dodecanoic acid on elephant organism, in particular, it observes possible relation between this acid and elephant herpes virus, i.e. a fatal disease which could seriously threaten entire elephant population, not only individuals bred in human care, but also elephants living in wild nature. The young fed by artificial nutrition are most endangered by this disease. Herpes virus killed almost two years’ old female Sumitra in the Ostrava Zoo in January 2016 which never drunk mother’s milk.

Dodecanoic acid is a natural part of elephant nutrition and represents 30-40% of all free fatty acids contained in elephant milk. This substance has provable antivirus and antibacterial effects and it is also used as an antivirus medicine for human patients, e.g. HIV positive. It may be dodecanoic acid what protects freely living elephants from herpes virus. If there was so high death rate of young of herpes virus in wild nature as of the young in human care in recent years, when the virus would have probably mutated and elephants would have been extinct.

Petr Čolas, the Manager of the Ostrava Zoo, evaluates the result of the money-raising activity as one of the most important milestones in the whole, almost 70 years lasting history of the Ostrava Zoo. “This is for the first time when we can provide so much money for research of disease endangered with extinction which will not only help bred individuals in human care, but also to animals in the wild nature. In this way, we help them survive and preserve them for further generations, fulfilling one of the most significant missions of zoos”, Petr Čolas adds.

The Ostrava Zoo has been successfully working with the team of prof. Hildebrandt for several years, not only related to elephants, but also to lions, giraffes or chimpanzees. Previous results of cooperation are highly beneficial for out breeding of these rare and endangered species as well as for their survival in future.

Further information about the collection is given at: http://www.zoo-ostrava.cz/cz/zoo/novinky/982-i-slunata-stunou-zapojte-se-spolu-se-zoo-ostrava-do-vyzkumu-slonich-nemoci/.

Photo/author: Pavel Vlček (Ostrava Zoo)