An Apple a Day? Not For Mara

In over 30 years of working with elephants, we have never known an elephant as picky as Mara.

During a recent meal, she began checking her whole apples for medicine. We like to think that we are very clever; however, we are apparently not clever enough to hide an elephant-sized dose of medication in unaltered fruit.

In past attempts to sneak in some medicine, we have hollowed out apples, filled them with medicine, and then sealed them shut with peanut butter. But Mara can tell that those have obviously been doctored. Most elephants are happy with a peanut butter treat and eat the medicine in exchange. We like to think we might outsmart her, but the suspicious Maya figures out our attempts pretty quickly.

Because she had caught on to our tricks, Mara was taking whole apples and biting them open. She would then put the pieces in her trunk like a cradle and use the tip of her trunk to pick through them. Once they passed her stringent inspection, she would eat them. That day, it took her around a minute to eat each apple. We joked that she was probably burning more calories than she was ingesting.

Since Mara didn’t eat much breakfast due to her careful apple inspection, Mateus offered her food about an hour later. Before he went out, he cut buckets of produce into little 4 cm squares (around 1.5 inches) for her. Upon investigating, Mara decided these squares of food were too small to hide medicine, so she ate it all quickly and happily. Of course, eating something well at one meal doesn’t mean she will eat it again at the next meal, but we know that if she ever decides not to eat her tiny cubed fruit, her two friends would be more than happy to assist her.

Photo of Mara eating a watermelon- insides first.

Comments(12)

Kenneth Newman says
April 4, 2021 at 3:41 pm
That food Mara is holding looks like watermelon, NOT bananas………does GSE plant any fruit trees, etc. on the property. or is
there a vegetable garden for produce for the elephants consumption? Is that elephant food kitchen finished yet, the one by the barn?
- REPLY
  Kat Blais says
  April 4, 2021 at 4:07 pm
  the photo was changed. we didn’t plant fruit trees other than banana trees, but there are fruit trees on the property, some planted and some indigenous. we had a vegetable garden last year, but have not had the time to replant this year. not yet. the elephant kitchen is up by the office, at the top of the hill. it is not finished yet. the cooler is fully in, some of the floor tiles and some of the cinderblock walls are up. the roof is finished and the polycarbonate panels are up as well.
Carol says
April 4, 2021 at 3:50 pm
Precious girl??
Alice says
April 4, 2021 at 7:05 pm
Sweet Mara. She is so smart!
Lynne Russert says
April 4, 2021 at 7:39 pm
Too funny! She’s such a clever girl!!??
Debbie Sides says
April 4, 2021 at 9:22 pm
She’s so clever bless her. Good to see she’s feeling better.
Sunny says
April 4, 2021 at 10:43 pm
I never understood how my dog managed to separeted a quarter of a half centimeter diameter pill from a large ball of cheese and spit it out… Cremoso cheese is difficult to handle even with your hands, it’s very sticky… ? They are really obstinate ?
bo says
April 5, 2021 at 1:12 am
…when elephants still surprise the human sanctuary team with so much experience… you truly know we as humans should never think of animals as no-brainers 😉
i know the team at the sanctuary NEVER think of animals as no-brainers, but hihi it really is a good example indeed, how smart Mara hihi,
sounds like many dog owners what Sunny wrote!!!
been there, experienced that as well with a dog we had, a female, terrier, thought nobody would believe us so never told how she spit out her medication each time, hidden in cheese, meat balls, …
nothing could surprise her so we had to find other tricks to ‘outsmart’ her,
glad to read there are several humans who experienced this with their dogs, just to show that yup, animals have a brain and are very capable to think for themselves!!! Love those stories and again, love what Mara showed us all : we should not be underestimated 🙂
JoAnn Merriman Eaton says
April 5, 2021 at 9:16 am
Hahaha. I’m sure it is an ongoing challenge to get Miss Mara’s medicine down, because what works today means she may out smart you tomorrow !!I understand except on a smaller scale… my dog can extract a pill from the inside of a piece of meat spit the pill out , and still eat the meat without spitting it out. ??♥️
John says
April 5, 2021 at 10:43 am
Welcome to “As the Elephant World Turns”.
Nancy Shaw says
April 5, 2021 at 11:06 am
Love what John wrote !!!!! ……still laughing
Carol Anderson says
April 5, 2021 at 7:35 pm
John, I love your comment “as the elephant world turns”. Quite unique.

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