Blog

\After dinnertime on the day of Kenya and Pupy’s first meeting, Kenya was standing by the gate between Yards 1 and 2, and as soon as she saw caregivers, she began vocalizing. Kenya makes some of the most interesting noises–totally unique from the ones we are used to hearing from the Asian elephants–and we’ve been trying to catch them on camera, but you know how bashful Kenya is sometimes when being filmed; we haven’t had much luck. 

When checking the observation camera before heading d to the habitat, we caught sight of Pupy walking toward the back of Yard 2. Once we got there, Pupy was out of sight, but Kenya was at a nice spot for her dinner and we placed her snacks near the front gate of Yard 1. We called for Pupy and she didn’t come right away, though we could hear the sound of her ears flapping in the brush. After a little searching, she finally emerged from the trees, seeming sleepy and mellow. She got her dinner at the place where she stopped along the fence in Yard 2.

We watched Pupy and Kenya on the camera throughout the night and on this first evening, we noticed that the girls remained in separate yards, even though the gates between them were open. When we got there for their night feed, since they seemed happier apart, we opted to close the gates between them to make sure they were both comfortable enough to get some sleep. We didn’t know if there might still be insecurity issues for Pupy and we wanted to make sure she felt safe, plus everyone needed to get some rest after an eventful day. In the morning, the gates between them were opened again, allowing them to interact at the pace they were comfortable with. 

Photo of Pupy (front) and Kenya (back) in the same yard