Researchers at Chiang Mai and Kasetsart universities in Thailand plan to go ahead with a program to artificially inseminate 30 female Thai elephants, despite a lack of initial signs of pregnancy from 2 elephants inseminated in October.

Kasetsart University veterinarian Nikorn Thongtip said researchers had prepared 30 female elephants for artificial insemination with sperm from an elephant sperm bank.

Khun Nikorn said the researchers were closely monitoring the 30 Thai elephants for the right moment to carry out the insemination.

On October 5 2003, the researchers inseminated two elephants at the National Elephant Institute in Lampang, Northern Thailand. A recent ultrasound scan of the two elephants revealed no signs of pregnancy, however.

Ronachit Rungsri, another veterinarian on the team, said the group would wait for one or two months to check the hormone levels of the two elephants before it could tell whether the first inseminations were successful.

Nikorn said that researchers in Thailand would also try to collect more sperm from elephants nationwide.