Vet Becomes Elephant Breeder and Midwife
S P R I N G F I E L D, Mo., April 24 -- Hanging from the wall in Dennis Schmitt’s university office is a picture of two elephants snuggling, their trunks intertwined.
Underneath it a sign reads, “Getting things done around here islike mating an elephant:
It’s done at a high level.
There’s a great deal of roaring and screaming.
It takes two years to get results.”
Schmitt, an otherwise serious and tired-looking professor,cracks a smile at that one. “It’s so true,” he says.
Expectant Mothers
He should know. When he isn’t grading papers or teachingveterinary medicine at Southwest Missouri State University, Schmittis busy traveling the globe, assisting zoos and circuses with thebreeding and birthing of pregnant pachyderms.
You might say he is part matchmaker, part elephant midwife.
“I prefer reproductive specialist,” Schmitt says, not crackinga smile this time.
With the worldwide stock of Asian and African elephantsdwindling, the subject of breeding is no laughing matter.
“Most Asian elephants in captivity are past their reproductiveage. If we don’t increase the birth rate considerably in the next20 years, we won’t have any animals left that can reproduce,” hesays.
Schmitt, the zoo veterinarian at Dickerson Park Zoo inSpringfield, is in charge of one of the most aggressive elephantbreeding programs in the country. His latest feat — assisting inthe first successful birth of an artificially inseminated elephant— has earned him a reputation as one of the leading elephantreproductive specialists in the world.
Looking for Good Moms
“The work Schmitt has done in the world of breeding has beencritical to the understanding of the biology of elephants andutilizing artificial reproduction techniques,” said MichaelHutchins, director of conservation and science for the American Zooand Aquarium Association in Maryland. “He has brought the field toa new level.”
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