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More Caregiver Interactions With Rana

We’ve talked before about Rana building relationships with caregivers and how she tends to test them to see how present they will be during interactions. Truth be told, Scott and Kat have never been subject to this, but all other caregivers have trials she seems to put them through.

One of the caregivers has described her doing specific things during treatment that they don’t know how to interpret. Rana won’t display any of these behaviors when the caregiver is working with Scott – even when Scott is standing at a distance. So to try to see exactly what is going on, we’ve had other caregivers record interactions with Rana to see if we can determine what they’re experiencing. They seem to be interpreting it as something less than positive on Rana’s part; it might be, but it could possibly be something else entirely. She’s seemingly trying to communicate something and this caregiver can’t quite get to the bottom of exactly what or why.

This is just one example of how elephants behave differently around each individual they interact with. The girls don’t necessarily replicate certain behaviors around different people. That means that behavior-wise, it can be difficult to determine what’s actually going on and figure out the best way to work with them when those with the most experience aren’t privy to seeing it for themselves.

In the meantime, this caregiver is continuing to interact with Rana, since her behavior isn’t anything drastic or dangerous and she’s still absolutely cooperative. The caregiver is now observing with as much awareness as possible for any other clues. Although this person has a good bit of experience as a caregiver it only shows that we all have more to learn. There will never be a time when you finish your elephant education.

Photo of Rana

Comments(10)

  1. REPLY
    Sheila says
    July 5, 2023 at 2:51 pm

    I’m in Disbelief. LOVELY💗🐘 SWEET RANA US GETTING BAD REPORT.
    CAN SCOTT SET UP A VIDEO SPY CAMERA NEAR WHERE CAREGIVERS R WORKING WITH RANA.?? OH IVE ALWAYS KNOWN RANA LOVES SCOTT AS DO ALL THE LADIES…HES VERY POPULAR WITH THELADIES. KAT IS ALSO VERY LIKED BY LADIES AS SHE WORKED WITH SCOTT THRU LADIES TRANSITION TIMES. THEY GOT TO LOVE KAT ALSO. HARD TO KNOW BUT MAYBE ITS A TECHNIQUE.,A SMELL, VOICE, THAT BOTHERS. RANA. I SURE HOPE WE GET A MORE DEFINATIVE 🐘RANA REPORT SOON THATS ULTRA POSITIVE!!

    • REPLY
      Sara says
      July 5, 2023 at 2:52 pm

      Rana hasn’t done anything bad at all. Each elephant simply has a different relationship with each caregiver. This certainly isn’t a bad report.

  2. REPLY
    Carey says
    July 5, 2023 at 2:57 pm

    All really fascinating and curious, and that she doesn’t do the same things around the bosses is very curious ! I look forward to the update about what Rana is communicating through her behaviours. True, the learning never stops with these highly evolved complex animals

  3. REPLY
    Wim says
    July 5, 2023 at 5:07 pm

    Rana’s masterclass never a dull moment.

  4. REPLY
    John says
    July 5, 2023 at 7:44 pm

    So very interesting. Rana keeps everyone on their toes, so to speak. Animals seem to have such wisdom and deep understanding of their world that we can never know.

  5. REPLY
    Alejandra Enquin says
    July 5, 2023 at 8:11 pm

    Rana es super perceptiva y tan inteligente!! Ademas es la psicologa de la manada y una abuela muy sabia .Quizas pone a prueba a su cuidadora para ver si les cuenta a Scott y a Kat .

  6. REPLY
    Charlotte Hansen says
    July 5, 2023 at 10:50 pm

    I wonder if she’s amusing herself by keeping everyone guessing?

  7. REPLY
    Alana says
    July 6, 2023 at 10:14 am

    Rana can do no wrong! I think she’s just playing around to see the reaction? she is one very smart elephant and a kind old girl. Simply the best!

    • REPLY
      Sara says
      July 6, 2023 at 11:46 am

      She isn’t playing. There’s just a period of adjustment when working with her.

  8. REPLY
    Beji says
    July 6, 2023 at 11:13 am

    Well, Scott and Kat are truly the elephant whisperers….that was hard to spell…ha

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