vocalizing

Rana’s Invitation to Play

Frequently, filming the elephants doesn’t go as planned. This video is a great example of that. ? While most of the footage is unexpected close-ups of a charming Maia, Scott recorded Rana engaging in a behavior we have noticed a few times now. A few times recently, as Maia has…...

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Happy International Friendship Day!

It’s International Friendship Day. And someone recently asked if Mara was learning about friendship and boundaries from Rana. While Rana has been at Sanctuary for longer, knowing what it means to be a friend is somewhat new to her too. Mara and Rana are learning about friendship together as a…...

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Water Tanker Party

For the 2019 Big Payback, we raised funds for firefighting supplies. One item on that list was a large water tanker, to provide us with a mobile water source. During the dry season, we keep the full water tanker nearby whenever anyone is welding for safety. Thankfully, we’ve never needed…...

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Lady’s Trumpet Party for Two

Often, in the mornings, team members who live on the Sanctuary grounds can hear Lady having an early morning trumpet party. Each elephant’s trumpet is slightly different, and we can usually tell who is trumpeting. These early morning trumpets are distinctly Lady, and they frequently happen right before the team…...

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Talking Bushes :)

Sound on!! When we recently referenced Rana and Mara’s regular parties, a few people asked for a video to see and hear one. Here is a small one! The backstory: Rana and Mara were on the way to dinner, and Mara was already a little silly. Kat was on the…...

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Rumbly Lady

Lady has become much more rumbly in the past few weeks. Rumbles can mean a lot of different things, based on frequency and tone. Among wild elephants, rumbles communicate: greetings, warnings, comfort, happiness/excitement, and more. Human ears can’t hear all rumbles, so we don’t always know when our elephants are…...

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