Quote Originally Posted by Alrik View Post
Well breeding is possible, that it's impossible in modern zoos is no excuse, what do they have a handful of animals caged up and let to "run wild". A sustainable population of anything I think is in the 300-eds, 340? To avoid inbreeding (obviously that small a population is only so through rigorus control of who mates with who.) And I assume no zoo has that kind of population, in fact I kind of doubt the zoos of the whole world all together get much above that number, but I also assume that good Pyrrus planned to have that number and more if he ever intended of having any number of them in battle.
No, really -- that's not how it works. There were never any sustainable populations of elephants in captivity. It's insanely difficult to even get animals cycling -- let alone pregnant. Gestation is is approximately 22 months. Bulls in captivity tend not to go into musth either and have decreased libido.

Even with artificial insemination and ultrasonagraphy, zoos have a difficult time. There is no way that anyone short of being in India would have the means or the economics to maintain a viable population of breeding elephants in the Hellenistic era. Even then, in India the elephants would run wild and then be caught and domesticated.