Springfield's zoo hopes new elephant will sire calf

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Sabu the Asian elephant has come to the Ozarks, on loan from the Cincinnati Zoo. He may have brought a little something with him.

Officials at Dickerson Park Zoo -- and other zoos around the country -- say Sabu, a 14-year-old bull caught wild in Malaysia, could provide diversity to the gene pool by fathering calves in U.S. zoos.

"Of the 13 males around the country under 25, he is only one of two that were caught wild," said Mike Keele, a member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association committee that advises zoos on elephant mating programs. "Sabu is a tremendous asset to any breeding program because he is wild and his genes aren't present in the captive gene pool."

Zoo officials believe three of the four adult females -- Pinky, Patience and Moola -- could produce offspring, though no decision has been made whether to try again.