Mara's First Meeting With Rana and Maia!

Mara’s first meeting with Rana and Maia last night was a little unexpected – Rana was by the fence for a while, and Mara wasn’t acknowledging her, even though she was clearly in her line of sight. Mara ended up getting reasonably close before she put her ears out, and her eyes got wide, and it was clear she just noticed there was an elephant on the other side of the fence. Rana was the only one there initially, but Mara joined them shortly after. There was a lot of smelling that went on, but Mara stayed in yard 2 for a while.

After a bit, she crossed over into yard 1 and got closer to both girls, but still no touching. Two elephants at once is a bit much, and obviously not planned, but we also don’t want to deny Maia the opportunity to see her new sister as well. So we let all three spend some time nearby, and then it was time for dinner. The plan was to feed either Maia or Rana along the fence, so they could be in the vicinity, but not right on top of Mara, allowing her to choose how close she wanted to get. Both Maia and Rana followed away for dinner, and Mara went back to the itchy scratchy tree. As we were about to go back up to the house to go over legal paperwork, Rana showed back up at the square while Mara ate at the tree.

While we were up top doing paperwork, we heard a bunch of trumpeting, so went down to the barn to make sure everyone was still happy with the situation. Mara is still separated from the other girls, but it’s still nice to see what is going on. Funnily enough, all of the noise was Rana; she was so excited. They had been close for a couple of hours earlier, but it seemed something clicked that caused Rana to go over the top with excitement. Mara stayed close, about 10 feet away, returning Rana’s vocalizations with loud rumbles and mini bellows, but from what we saw, the two never touched. We haven’t seen Rana this way ever. The closest was when she had her ‘Rana Rana Dance Party’ shortly after her arrival, but this was different. We stayed down with the girls until things settled, and Rana walked away a bit. It has been quiet since, but we’ll be curious to see how tomorrow goes. We will also be going back down in just over an hour to do our nightly check-in and see how they are all doing.

The first parts of the video are when Mara was first in yard 2, and then came closer into yard 1. We didn’t have the good phone with us, sorry. The dark clips are from Rana’s vocal party at night. You can see her submissively put her back foot up at one point, that is the metal banging you hear- she kept putting her feet up. You can also see her trunk for a moment. To say Rana was very excited is an understatement. 😉

May 16, 2020

UPDATE: We are getting a lot of questions as to whether or not Mara and Rana know each other (for good reason!):

The chances that elephants might know one of the others is fairly decent because most of the elephants that were imported into South America came from the same place. A lot of the elephants came through the same zoo in Europe. Mara was moved from there along with two other elephants to South America. One of those elephants was Merry who was supposed to come to the sanctuary but sadly died before that was possible. The other elephant went to Brazil but the name is unknown. Often elephants are held together in a place before being shipped off, so you get a bunch of elephants who end up in these places with a lot of other elephants. Sometimes it’s for a very short period of time; sometimes longer depending upon demand. Some of the circus elephants in South America have been kept with other circus elephants for short periods of time during wintering-over, or when not on the road, or during the off-season. So there’s a decent chance that at least someone is going to have crossed over with someone before. Of course we are never going to know who it was. We had been told that Rana had been with Maia and Guida for awhile, but it’s hard to know which stories are true – and we hear a lot of different versions of the stories. But yes, there is a chance that somebody along the way is going to have known somebody else. And as you have heard from last night’s video, it is possible that we have two right now.

Comments(22)

Heidi says
May 16, 2020 at 8:18 am
Maybe they discovered they’re long-lost friends!
- REPLY
  EleComposer says
  May 16, 2020 at 8:33 am
  We just updated the post as we are getting a lot of questions about this possibility! Maybe!
Cassie Raymond says
May 16, 2020 at 8:20 am
I’m still smiling! What a wonderful post. I’m so happy at the progress. Thank you for all you do!
Sherry says
May 16, 2020 at 8:59 am
Yes, elephants who knew each other in the past is possible. I hope they all will be friends. It makes life easier.
Barb says
May 16, 2020 at 9:04 am
Such happy sounds were heard in the video! I have watched it over and over and over again! Such excitement was thrilling !
I can’t wait for today’s ESB episode.
Barb says
May 16, 2020 at 9:19 am
Yes indeed! Fantastic video and happy night sounds! I have listened over and over.
Rosie P says
May 16, 2020 at 9:28 am
What a delightful video, Mara meeting two of her sisters. Maia was so sweet reaching out to Mara who is understandably apprehensive in her first days of sanctuary. Gorgeous sounds from excited Rana…who can help but smile and laugh when you hear Scott talking so gently to her and she answers in her own inimitable way. Simply wonderful. ( I have watched it many times already and it makes my heart sing!)
Paula says
May 16, 2020 at 9:42 am
Se sigue agrandando la familia!!!
Que alegría!!!
Rescatemos a todos los elefantes que aún faltan ?❤
Felicitaciones Scott y Kat !!!!!
Rosie P says
May 16, 2020 at 9:43 am
Comment on the update: How exciting and it’s said that an elephant never forgets. Somewhere in days gone by our girls might have known each other. This is very thought provoking and poignant and perhaps we shall get little hints from the girls in the months to come. The parting and then reuniting of friends, maybe. It really hits home the way some humans treat animals as commodities and not living sentient beings. Broken families sold to the circus for human entertainment. At least we can give them something back by offering sanctuary.
Alana says
May 16, 2020 at 9:46 am
Isn’t Rana wonderful!
Tammy says
May 16, 2020 at 9:49 am
This is so exciting we can only hope these girls have been reunited but this time for a very happy reason! This is really encouraging news all the way around let’s do the happy dance for all the girls yippee! ???
Jillyp says
May 16, 2020 at 10:10 am
It really does seem like Rana remembers Mara – she’s so excited ❤️ Wonderful to think they may know each other ? X
Wim Diepeveen says
May 16, 2020 at 10:34 am
Thank you isn’t enough to show how wonderful your updates, text and video, are giving so much pleasure and emotion.
Really amazing how they make or almost make contact. There must be a lot emotion and deep inner feeling with all the LADIES.
Are humans sentient enough to understand how sentient elephants are? ?❤️?❤️?
Debra Moore says
May 16, 2020 at 10:47 am
So sweet. Loving this and looking forward to more! Many thanks. I think these two are acquainted.
Debbie Sides says
May 16, 2020 at 11:08 am
Read my mind. I thought: Does Rana and Mara know each other? Quite possible and wouldn’t that be amazing. A reunion. So glad Mara is home. Can’t wait to see how things go and who she will befriend.??
Sheila says
May 16, 2020 at 3:55 pm
Oh my god!? rana seems to remember mara and mara seemed to remember rana also just a few moments! Very beautiful to hear that trumpeting!! From rana!! Im sure they have met? Its truly amazing! Just maybe lady has met mara too! Wouldnt that be fantastic if all 4 ladies maia! Rana! Mara and lady had all been in contact befor❓⁉️ this would be amazingly over the top amazing‼️??❤️ as the excitement builds…….
Sallie Robbins-Druian says
May 16, 2020 at 6:18 pm
Simply amazing sensitivities with these girls! It will only get better & more exciting! Like everyone else, I am on the edge of my seat, waiting for more interaction! I can feel that it is coming! Yippee!
Vicky says
May 16, 2020 at 8:52 pm
What a wonderful thought that they may have known each other. And what a wonderful thing if they may not have, because that was the best meeting that I have ever seen! Rana has had my heart since day one and seeing her so excited brought out so much emotion in me today! Thank you Kat & Scott for sharing such an incredible moment. I can hardly wait to see what these two have in their future together!
Carey says
May 17, 2020 at 4:15 am
WOW that was something! Exciting for me let alone for Rana!
Judy M says
May 18, 2020 at 2:57 am
It is so wonderful to see Rana and Mara have finally found each other. I believe in my heart they know each other from past life… It puts a smile to my heart that Rana bug has found her sister. xxxxx
Rachel says
May 18, 2020 at 10:12 am
I’m just catching up with these emails but I never delete them – hearing about the progress and first meetings are always a highlight of my day. And this one was no exception. What a treat to see the first meeting and then to watch and hear the trumpeting and rumbling sounds – hard to express the happiness I feel for these ele’s who are finally healing from the mental and physical traumas of captivity. “Thanks” is sooo unsatisfactory in times like these but I’ll continue to financially support you any way I can as a token of my love for all of you, both humans and creatures alike. Cheers!
Susan says
May 18, 2020 at 7:09 pm
What a wonderful video! This makes me so happy!

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