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This sanctuary morning started off with some maintenance construction in the annex area of Yard 4, which Guillermina did not initially embrace. While there have been times where she has curiously watched the backhoe work outside of the habitat in the distance, other times she has quickly left when it has been close. In this instance she kept her distance at first but, once she saw Bambi and Maia getting closer to the tractor, she got curious and decided to join them – making her way between the two other elephants. This was great because it showed that Guille was processing information and decided that maybe the tractor in their midst was actually a positive thing. 

Though the moment had a lot of initial vocalizations, the excitement died down very quickly. While Maia had yet to walk away, you can see that she was very nearly taking a standing nap. Like a child fighting off sleep, she is holding her trunk in her mouth, barely awake. Just a minute later, Maia wandered off and succumbed to her after-breakfast sleepiness while the other ladies enjoyed the fresh dirt that had just been poured into the yard. Hopefully Guille took away from this interaction that good things (like brand new dirt) often come with noisy vehicles.