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This is a short video we took with the drone during one of our ‘check-ins’ to see where the girls are and how they are doing. Maia is in the front, Guida is at the back, by the fence. The area they are in is the Southeast corner of the 4th yard- I say this because we mention the areas in posts often. Although there are moments that we are doing treatment or training, this is what our girls spend most of their day doing- just grazing.

One of the ways we can tell Maia from a distance (like from the house) is something you can see here. She is the only one who regularly flaps with each ear individually. Ear flaps are generally simultaneous, Maia does one after the other, which is very obvious from a distance.

As the camera rotates around, to Maia’s lovely belly and backside view, the view head off in the direction of the barn (although it’s a distance away.) The Beleza Na Vida pond is directly in front of Maia, and the dirt four-wheeler path is what we call ‘Middle Road.’ Lollipop tree is out of site, off to the right of where Maia is standing at the end of the video. ‘The Piqui’ tree is past the pond, down middle road and just out of sight. We have many of these trees, but this is the biggest one and one of the girls’ favorite hangouts and scratching posts. The macaws love the fruit, the elephants, not so much.

Now you have a better lay of the land while getting to watch cute Maia enjoy her grass. And since inevitably someone will mention elephants not liking drones, because of wild African elephants and their response- these girls don’t care about the drone. As you can see, Maia isn’t phased, although when we do check in with them, we generally stay much further away as not to disturb naps, play or socialization. Not only are African elephants much different than Asian elephants, but wild and captive elephants differ significantly as well. If the girls showed signs of stress, aggravation or discomfort with the drone, we wouldn’t use it. 

February 13, 2019

RELATED LINKS
Maia’s Page →
Guida’s Page →
Drone Photo of the Sanctuary →
Meet Wall-E, Our New Drone (post from Jan 2018) →