Some Footwork for Maia, Too

In addition to Rana, we recently did some touch-up footwork on Maia as well. Maia receives the least frequent footwork out of all of our elephants. Not only is she our speediest elephant, but she explores more than anyone else here and uses her feet for frequent digging up of roots. Similar to wild elephants, those behaviors, along with frequent dips in ponds and mud wallows, do the majority of her footwork for us.

When we first asked Maia to present her feet for footwork, she responded by being super lazy. She leaned her head against the bars of the fence. Like with Rana, she still wanted her treats, but she didn’t want to pick up her feet to earn them. Also like Rana, we were attempting to do footwork after breakfast, which tends to be food coma time. But it’s also a great time, schedule-wise, to try and get some elephant things done.

Maia gave us her trunk instead of her feet and closed her eyes. We gave her a couple of treats to see if she was at all interested or if it was truly nap time. With her treats we gave her a few handfuls of dried cranberries, and she immediately perked up.

It was as if she realized that cranberries were worth waking up for. She may not have been excited to participate in footwork for fruit, but once she realized she was earning cranberries, she was a complete rockstar. This is part of the reason why we use more exciting treats for our “bigger” asks – to be effective, the reward needs to be proportionate to the behavior. The girls seem to understand the increased level of appreciation.

Once we finished working on her feet, she sauntered over to the mud wallow for a good coating and some much-earned relaxation.

June 25, 2020

Comments(8)

Kyle says
June 25, 2020 at 4:19 pm
Cranberries are delicious! Smart girl for only working for food! We are similar in the sense that we both perk up when given food! #WorkForFood
Wim says
June 25, 2020 at 5:25 pm
They must have a secret competition who wins the Oscar for earning the most treats in the fastest world record time. Clever girls are never without fruit. ??????
Bertica Valdes Suarez says
June 25, 2020 at 5:29 pm
Maia, look how you improved an already stunning landscape and Kat, your eye for perfect composition shows your girl off. I think I’m loving the pictures more than the videos these days. I have to go back to work in early August and I hope i don’t get in trouble for sneaking peeks into my phone. I wish this picture was a for sale wall poster.
- REPLY
  Anella Stewart says
  June 26, 2020 at 9:09 pm
  I agree. I have a framed print of a beautiful large African Bull in my downstairs washroom and would dearly love to have posters of all the lovely GSE ladies alongside to show off & admire on a regular basis. Kat certainly knows how to successfully capture the essence of each of the ladies in her photos…so endearing & heartwarming.
Sheila says
June 25, 2020 at 9:06 pm
Bravo maia?‼️u r such a rockstar in the feet dept.? u really do have a strong wild side in the sense u dig with your feet‼️ good girl?! Glad to see u got cranberries??they r real tasty! Im sure ur so smart you often come for foot care, remembering the cranberries?
Julie says
June 25, 2020 at 9:30 pm
Another great pic of beautiful, interesting Maia!
JoAnn Merriman Eaton says
June 26, 2020 at 11:58 am
Maia – a rock star! Love that visual of seeing her lazily resting her head against the fence and offering her trunk!!! Nice try Maia!!!
Carey says
June 28, 2020 at 4:19 pm
She is sooooo beautiful!

Name:
Email:
	We will never share or sell your information for any reason.
	Privacy Policy
Confirm that you are not a bot. ×

How To Help

Adopt an Elephant

Donate Today

GSE Merchandise

Elephant Wishlists

Blog