New arrival at ENP: Rara
Last October the elephant Rara arrived at the Elephant Nature Park.
When she was only one , she was taken kicking and screaming away from her mother to be trained. After her training she was taken to a luxury hotel in the seaside resort of Krabi.
Since then, she has been used to welcome and entertain guests. Her routine remained the same for six years. She would be taken to either the hotel lobby, or some other area when she grew, for an hour in the morning to meet and greet guests. They could feed her bananas and fruit and could take pictures with her. Then in the afternoon she would be taken to the beach for an hour so she could swim and play in the ocean, which she loved, and again guests could take pictures, feed her and sometimes swim with her. Aside from these regular outings, and some additional play time while she was walking to and from them, she would remain chained in her house on very short chain. Her knowledge of the world was contained within the area between her house and the main hotel area.
Her living situation meant she could not practice her natural elephant behavior, such as foraging for food, keeping her senses stimulated nor could she learn the social rules of elephant culture. So she learned to ask for food, water and attention and she displayed her frustration and pent up energy by swaying and banging her head against the poles of her house. At the hotel she had the best food and medical attention if she needed it and plenty of company but the neglect in this case is that the company was solely human, and that is one of the saddest things that can be done to an elephant, to keep them alone and isolated from their own kind.
Rara is now eight years old, and doesn’t behave like an elephant at all, not surprising since all her imprinting from 1 – 7 years old has been with as is was with humans. A group of guests fell in love with her, and has been working for years to get her to the Elephant Nature Park. Because there have never been other elephants near her, it seems like she has forgotten she is an elephant herself. It reminds me of a book called “Teunis” by Toon Tellegen and Jan Jutte.
Upon arrival at the Elephant Nature Park, Rara was frightened of all the other elephants, and tried to hide behind people. But the elephants are incredibly curious about the newest resident. Click more for pictures and more information. The entire herd wants to make her acquaintance, but Rara panics. She takes off, checks from a distance if they have gone, and then runs back to her human family. The elephants of the Elephant Nature Park then try to connect from a distance. But Rara is frightened by every elephant sound, and obviously doesn’t understand a thing. The sounds Rara makes don’t even sound like an elephant: a high-pitched dolphin-like squeak, and she trumpets like she really is blowing a trumpet, including puffy cheeks.
Her new mahout has to gain her trust, because Rara is afraid of men. But he is patient and loves her strange sounds. After a few days, I see them in the field together, the mahout laughing out loud because of her strange behavior. Chang Yim is very interested in Rara. He tries to approach her at the mud bath every day. But he has figured out quickly that Rara is afraid of him, and he has started to push her away, startle her, and chase her. Come on, Rara! Don’t get pushed away by such a busy baby. Despite Rara walking away all the time, she also keeps checking where Chang Yim is. When Chang Yim walks away, Rara follows him. So she is interested in him.
Rara is the spitting image of Hope. And Hope, always curious about new elephants, tries to approach her every day. Carefully they get to know each other with their trunks. This is going well. Rara is enjoying herself the most when she has the mud bath to herself. Rolling around in the mud, she keeps an eye on the other elephants. It probably won’t take long before she will be playing in the mud with the other elephants. And then she will have her own elephant family.
Rara (links) groet Hope.
Rara weet hoe ze de meeste snacks kan krijgen.
Chang Yim probeert met Rara te spelen.
