elephant behavior

Space, Diversity & Freedom of Sanctuary

We’re taking a little break from the behavioral posts of the past week, but wanted to share this photo of Rana from the other day. We have been talking about the emotional and social side of what sanctuary offers elephants, but this photo shows the other part: an elephant lost…...

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Behavioral Series 3: Healing Takes Effort

(...continued from Behavioral Series 2)   Being Happy for Rana We went into that night feeling a little bad for Rana, because you can see how badly she wants it, but when we found her deep in the habitat, grazing away with a soft smiley face, looking as though she…...

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Behavioral Series 2: Relearning to Communicate

  (...continued from Behavioral Series 1) Rana was still coming back to the barn every night at this point, although not staying inside of it. To ensure her comfort and that she was able to rest fully, we had been separating the girls out at 10 pm feed. Rana would…...

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Behavioral Series 1: Breathe & Relax

  Breathe and Relax Scott hates long stories that start with a feeling of ‘Oh no, where is this going to go’ they immediately make him nervous about the point or the ending. Because of this, I will start by saying this doesn’t end badly. So breathe and relax. We…...

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Happy New Year to All!

We’re not going to lie, we forgot it was New Year’s Eve, it’s warm and rainy and we have a new Rana bug, so each day blends with the next and it doesn’t remotely feel like December. Rana was the joy that ended 2018 for GSE. After spending a year…...

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Rana: Barn, Sleep and Feet

Cutie Rana bug half asleep in her little mud wallow. Two things are fairly common with new elephants, especially zoo elephants. The first is that the barn is somewhat of a security blanket. After years, sometimes decades of living in the same little square, they find comfort in returning. In…...

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