Maia loves food. She loves all food. When people ask what her favorite food is, we usually answer “everything.” We are going to have to respond differently now because we found a food she does not like.
As many of you know, we have quite a few chickens here. Most of the chickens live by the office, but when one gets bullied, or doesn’t get along with another rooster up top, we move him down to our mini flock of loved misfits by the barn.
We have a rooster named Woody, who is supposed to live by the barn. He is a bit of a loner, so he chooses to spend most of his time by himself and occasionally wanders off. He is by Maia and Rana more than he is the other roosters.
The other evening, Kat & Scott went to find Woody to drop off his dinner on their way to their house (which is near the office). While we usually keep elephant snacks on the four-wheeler, since they weren’t going into the habitat and were going home for the night, they only had chicken feed with them. When they found Woody, he was inside the elephant habitat, and Maia was nearby.
Woody came out of the habitat for his dinner, and Kat started feeding him. Scott walked over to say hi to Maia. While he was there, he noticed a tick on her and pulled it off. When we do tick checks on the girls, they get rewarded for staying still and allowing us to pick at them. Maia decided that Scott removing a tick earned her treats, so she started looking around, expecting something.
As they weren’t planning to see an elephant, all that was on the four-wheeler was chicken feed and sunflower seeds. Since Maia eats anything, Scott gave her a handful of sunflower seeds. She took them in her nose and blew them in her mouth. Maia chewed them up a little and put her nose back out. Scott gave her a few more, which she also put in her mouth. She made a ridiculous face and started spitting them out of her mouth and blew the rest out of her nose.
Maia has a big personality and made sure she spit them out with a bit of flare. She made all kinds of “ptoey, ptoey, ptoey!” noises and faces. It was the first time Kat or Scott has seen Maia spit out food – even if she doesn’t prefer something, she will suffer through it (dramatically), because, well, food.
They ended up giving her a few pieces of chicken feed, as that was the only other option. Yes, she thought the chicken feed was fine, which is further evidence of how strange it is that she doesn’t like sunflower seeds!
For those who are thinking that maybe elephants just don’t like sunflower seeds, they were actually used as a high-end reward in an elephant cognition study. Every participant thoroughly enjoyed them. So Maia is special in yet another way. 😉
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Rand Cooley says
April 19, 2020 at 1:49 pmRule 1 always have treats on the conveyance my horses would show their displeasure if I showed up with no carrot apple orange whatever. My Holsteiner could take a carrot out of my back pocket before I could blink. He was that fast. Maia no dummy she knows the deal. Who is training who? 🙂 I love her exploits
Heidi says
April 19, 2020 at 2:02 pmSuch a funny story! Thank you for sharing!
Kelejan says
April 19, 2020 at 2:03 pmYou do make me laugh when you expose the funny things about elephants. Your comments are a never-ending source of making me smile. It is a wonderful way of getting me through this pandemic and isolation.
Carol says
April 19, 2020 at 2:14 pmShe is her own person! So adorable. ???
Sallie Robbins-Druian says
April 19, 2020 at 2:31 pmThis is exactly why we LOVE YOU, Miss Maia! It all comes from your heart! Your “foody” attitude is so like a human being, which makes me think that you can also read minds of any living critter including humans . . . ROCK ON, Miss Maia! You are So Special, and the best part is that you KNOW it! Please continue to be a friend of Woody! Thank you.
Barb says
April 19, 2020 at 3:27 pmAlways a joy to hear stories about the girls but this one made me laugh out loud as I imagined sunflower seeds flying everywhere. I wondered if Woody ate the tossed seeds.
Muriel Servaege says
April 19, 2020 at 4:09 pmWould never have imagined Woody would more willingly stay with Maia, who, incidentally, has very special food tastes.
alana says
April 19, 2020 at 5:22 pmWoody keeps good company. Great story!
Rosie P says
April 20, 2020 at 3:15 amI love these descriptions of sanctuary life! It is a wonderland for all the inhabitants. Maia never ceases to make me smile, she’s such a canny girl and what a character!
I will think of this story every time I feed the squirrels in my garden…they LOVE sunflower seeds! LOL!
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Maia Loves Food!