Nashville Zoo brings stork to visit pachyderm Kiba

All eyes - and trunks - are focused on Kiba, as pachyderms nationwide are counting on the 9,000-pound giantess to add to their ranks.

One of three African elephants calling the Nashville Zoo their home, the 21-year-old Kiba will be artificially inseminated three times through Friday as part of a program to replace an aging elephant population in North American zoological parks.

About half of all artificial insemination procedures performed on elephants have resulted in pregnancies, according to Jim Bartoo, Nashville Zoo director of marketing and public relations. If Kiba gives birth after a 22-month gestation period, the zoo plans to keep the baby, he said.

"An AI does not guarantee a pregnancy," Bartoo said, adding that about 12 weeks will be needed to determine if pregnancy has occurred.

Dr. Dennis Schmitt, veterinarian at the Springfield, Mo.-based Dickerson Park Zoo, will oversee the effort, Bartoo said.

In 1999, Schmitt assisted in the first successful birth of an artificially inseminated elephant. Since then, nine more elephants housed in North American exotic wildlife facilities have been born by artificial insemination.

Nashville Zoo participates in the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's African Elephant Species Survival Program to address North America's aging elephant population. With 211 female and 31 male African elephants currently in the U.S., elephant experts project that, without breeding, there would be just 13 females left in about 40 years. Of that 13, only four would be young enough to reproduce.

The Nashville Zoo's 3-acre African elephant habitat, originally slated to open by late September, will be unveiled next spring.