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There have been a few meal times recently when Maia and Guille have been near each other and have eaten breakfast together. The last several times this has happened, they’ve been engaging in a lighthearted “food war.” Guille will walk away from her food to see what Maia has, then Maia will try to keep it away from Guillermina. If Guille gets distracted by what the caregivers are doing, Maia will go over and see what Guille has left to eat. They walk back and forth between each other’s meals a number of times, sometimes eating at the same pile together and, at other times, eating from different piles. It’s all very calm and relaxed, but also a bit funny. 

It’s encouraging to see the herd dynamics changing with Guillermina. She’s generally had a tendency to try and share other elephants’ meals, even if they weren’t on board with that. Lately, some of the others have been choosing to share Guille’s food – walking over to see what she has and then helping themselves. Maia has no problem doing this, but we’ve also seen Bambi check out Guille’s food when she isn’t interested in waiting for her own meal. Sometimes it seems like there’s a breakfast buffet being served at sanctuary.