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Volume up!!

This morning, since the girls were by the barn, Rana was brought in for her regular treatment, and Maia and Guida came in for footwork. We always separate whoever goes first, so we can safely move around all sides of them while working.

Maia and Guida were on the silly side, and it was nice to see that instead of just interacting with themselves, they went over to welcome Rana into the fun. Usually, they’re happy to keep their celebrations between the two of them, sometimes with Rana inviting herself in if she wants to play, but not this time. Her initial response is rumbles followed by her cute ‘deflated trumpet’ sound. This isn’t a sad trumpet, it’s just one of her variations, one that is hard to get on camera.

What you see in the video is what often makes recording vocalizations difficult. Even with the little disconnect of putting a camera or a phone between you and the elephants, they don’t engage as much, with each other or with the person. It is why you’ll hear us describe scenarios that we don’t have on film. Especially since the relationship between Rana and our other two ladies is still new, we like to be as encouraging and engaging as possible, that means being fully present.

So although it doesn’t remotely end up reaching Rana’s normal level of silly, we wanted to share her deflated trumpet since we’ve referred to it several times but haven’t been able to catch it on video.

March 5, 2019