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Guillermina is still working out some boundaries with the other elephants, sometimes trying to test her limits to see what she can get away with, as she works to redefine herself without Pocha. While this can be normal for a young captive elephant to do, we try to encourage her more passive side to emerge by setting up the feeding configuration so that she eats nearer to Maia and Bambi. Guille is still a little pushy with those two, but they are quick to establish boundaries, curtailing the more aggressive tendencies of her past, which we discussed at length when Guille and Pocha arrived. Mara and Rana remain submissive to Guillermina, which sometimes feeds Guille’s old habit to be more physically dominant.

Here, she and Bambi are nearing the end of their breakfast and, similar to what happens between Maia and Guille, they go back and forth with eating one another’s meals. It’s a very easygoing practice between the two of them. You can see that Guillermina subtly tries to back up to take up more space (and potentially get more hay), and Bambi very lightly – almost unnoticeably – pushes against her; this is as if to remind her that sharing food and space is a mutual agreement between two individuals. Bambi’s actions are very gentle, as Guille doesn’t need much of a hint about what she’s been learning from the others. 

These two continue to build a solid relationship, with a few small teaching moments from Bambi (and Maia) needed at times. But Guillermina is progressing in her bonds with all of the elephants, as she learns day-by-day what it means to be a herd member. 

P.S.: Like some of the other elephants at the sanctuary, Guillermina enjoys tossing a bit of hay onto her head. Now that the rainy season has started in earnest, the girls are getting more of their meals through grazing, so they will sometimes use their hay as protection from the sun and nagging bugs instead of eating it right away.