Busy day here in Brazil, but didn’t want to leave you all without, so here is lovely Miss Maia. Someone asked how she was doing the other day, and we realized we hadn’t given an emotional update on how she has been.
Maia is good, definitely brighter, more engaging, more relaxed during quiet times and back to exploring. The one not 100% positive behavior we see is that she’s being a little pushy with Rana. Yesterday morning she was ‘eating’ Rana’s head, which can be playful, but Rana wasn’t entirely comfortable, so she walked away. But Maia was persistent and followed.
It doesn’t go much past that, but at that moment, Rana isn’t thrilled. And we say ‘at that moment’ because Rana will then follow behind Maia to go out into the habitat. We think some of it is boredom and some of it is Maia trying to figure out how to have a relationship with another elephant. Guida always guided her, but Rana isn’t like that. Rana is allowing Maia to take the lead and it seems Maia doesn’t really know what to do or how to do it.
It’s all part of the journey. Maia spent her life on chains and didn’t truly know how to be part of a relationship with another elephant. She had coexisted with Guida for decades, so it was a little easier once they arrived at the sanctuary. Now, Maia has to start over a bit. Thankfully Rana is patient, but she could also use a little growth from this and realize she can express her desires too.
September 7, 2019
More Maia Here →
And More Rana Here →
Comments(3) 
Kelejan says
September 7, 2019 at 11:08 pmI always find it fascinating how you explain elephant behavior to us so that we can understand what is happening. You bring them to life.
Nishant Bhajaria says
September 7, 2019 at 11:57 pmI miss Guida, and I am sure poor Maia does too.
Carey says
September 8, 2019 at 9:31 amThank you for the update on Maia, good to know what she’s up to
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